Interaction between spring temperature-photoperiod and experimentally induced transient cold shock influencing proliferative activity in the brain of an adult terrestrial heterothermic vertebrate, Rana bergeri (Günther, 1986)

The seasonal thermal cycle and correlated variations in photoperiod exert antithetical influences on the proliferation of the reserve brain stem cells, which are mostly ependymal and sub-ependymal, of adult earth-dwelling heterothermic vertebrates upon deprivation of an encephalic area. Also, an induced sudden, transient thermal stress preceding surgical cerebral maiming increases or depresses the proliferation of these stand-by cells, depending on the season. In particular, the concomitance of spring temperature and photoperiod with a cold stimulus increases proliferation. To re-evaluate these findings, normal adults of Rana bergeri were exposed to a cold shock in spring time. The outlined patterns, as revealed by immunocytochemical detection of a proliferation-linked antigen, showed that those conditions affect only the forebrain, where immunoreactivity was identifiable in quiescent cells mostly located in peculiar telencephalic ependymal sites, known as zonae germinativae dorsales and ventrales, while the regions lying behind had no substantial proliferative response. These results may be due to the absence of further proliferative stimuli (surgical stress, cerebral ablation), so that only the stand-by cells in the encephalic areas more rich in such cells are activated to proliferate. The findings are in line with the subordinate position of Anurans as compared with Urodeles, which are the most gifted with spontaneous and experimentally induced reparative and regenerative capacity among vertebrates.