Prenatal Water Deprivation Induces Apoptosis in Sexual Dimorphic Nucleus of the Brain of Male New Born Sprague-Dawley Rats

considering the size of some nuclei and area, sex hormones control the sexual development of the brain. the sexual development of the brain can also be influenced by environmental stress. this study aimed to clear the effect of prenatal water deprivation on the development of sexual dimorphic nucleus (sdn) of the brain. in this research, pregnant rats were divided into two groups (control and treated). for the treated animals, water was removed from the ewes for 48 h at the end of third trimester of gestation (19-21 days). tunel staining was used for detection of apoptosis in paraffin embedded diencephalon selected sections. the ratio of apoptotic cells to non- apoptotic ones was calculated as apoptotic index. differences of apoptotic index and serum testosterone were examined for statistical significance using paired t- test (p<0.05). the apoptotic index was 0.0160±.01174% for control and 0.1870±.02541 % for treated groups. the concentration of serum testosterone was 22.4±1.3 for control and 13.37±3.3 for treated groups. prenatal water deprivation induces apoptosis in developing sdn nucleus of male rats that is derived by reducing the concentration of serum testosterone. the study shows the importance of low concentration acting testosterone for development of sdn nucleus that can be affected by environmental stress.