Objective To investigate the effect of gestational hypertension on brain development of rat offspring and the improvement effect of glutamine. Methods This experiment used thirty six female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, which were randomly divided into three groups: the normal group (N group), the brain injury induced by pregnancy induced hypertension in neonatal rat group (PIH group), and the pregnancy induced hypertension+neonatal rat glutamine treatment group (PIH+Gln group), as well as the corresponding numbers of surrogate mother rat groups. The morphological characteristics of BDNF positive neurons in the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats in each group at the above time were observed by immunohistochemical staining method; The expression levels of BDNF and TrkB proteins in the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats in each group at the above time were quantitatively analyzed by Western blot. Results BDNF-positive neuronal cells in the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats in N group showed typical morphological features in each period after birth; These cells were uniformly distributed, and their protrusions and axons showed clear extended structures; BDNF-positive neuronal cells in the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats in the PIH group showed significant morphological abnormalities at various stages after birth, which were not only disorganised in distribution, but also lacked the typical cellular morphological features compared with those in the N group; The neonatal rats in the PIH+Gln group started to show positive signs of improvement at the P7 period, as evidenced by an increase in the number of BDNF- positive neuronal fines, a regular distribution, a more prominent cell protruding structure, and a clearer cell outline. At P7, P14, P21 and P28, the expression of BDNF- and TrkB- protein in cerebral cortex, in the PIH group and PIH+Gln group were lower than N group, but PIH+Gln group was significantly higher than PIH group, with statistical significance (P<0.05). Conclusion Glutamine applied early in life can effectively alleviate the impaired brain development of offspring neonatal rats caused by maternal gestational hypertension syndrome, and its mechanism of action regulates the growth and development process of neuronal cells by promoting the expression of BDNF and TrkB in the cerebral cortex.

Pregnancy-induced Hypertension Syndrome, Glutamine, Brain Development, BDNF, TrkB