Additional 18 female C57BL/6 mice (same age as above) were divided into 3 groups: seizure (N = 6), running (N = 6) and controls (N = 6). Seizure animals received a single intraperitoneal application of 30 mg/kg kainic acid (KA, Sigma) in 0.1 M phosphate buffered saline (PBS) on the day before BrdU-injections (Day 0), and only those displaying continuous convulsive seizure activity were used in these experiments. The "Runner" group was housed with 2–3 animals per cage that was equipped with a running wheel. During the first 7 days of the experiment all animals received one daily injection of BrdU. Tissue from this experiment will be used in an unrelated study. Data on dendritic morphology, etc., were exclusively generated for the present study.
To analyze the spatial relationship between DCX-positive cells and astrocytes we used 3 female transgenic mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein EGFP under the promoter for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). The animals were kindly provided by Helmut Kettenmann, Berlin [37 (link)] and were 7 weeks of age. For the detection of apoptosis a total of 37 female C57BL/6J mice (Charles River, Sulzfeld, Germany), 8 weeks of age, were used.
For the water maze experiment, 21 female Nestin-GFP reporter mice [69 (link)] (C57BL/6, 10 weeks of age at the beginning of the experiment) were used and randomly assigned to one of the following experimental groups: Morris water maze hidden version, Morris water maze cued version, standard laboratory conditions. On the 3 days before the experiment each animal received single injection of BrdU. Animals were subjected to water maze training at days 5 to 8 of the experiment (days 5 to 8 after the last BrdU injection). We followed the protocol devised by Wolfer and Lipp [70 (link)]. Six trials of training each maximally lasting for 2 minutes were given each day. Tissue from that experiment that has been published elsewhere [44 (link)] was analyzed for the present study. Again, the data on dendritic morphology, etc., were exclusively generated for the present study.