(1) Background: Somatostatin (SST) exhibits expressional changes in the brain during development, but its role is not still clear in brain development. (2) Methods: We investigated postnatal SST expression and its effects on hippocampal neurogenesis via administering SST subcutaneously to P7 mice for 7 days. (3) Results: In the hippocampal CA1 region, SST immunoreactivity reaches peak at P14. However, SST immunoreactivity significantly decreased at P21. In the CA2/3 region, the SST expression pattern was similar to the CA1, and SST-immunoreactive cells were most abundant at P14. In the dentate gyrus, SST-immunoreactive cells were most abundant at P7 and P14 in the polymorphic layer; as in CA1-3 regions, the immunoreactivity decreased at P21. To elucidate the role of SST in postnatal development, we administered SST subcutaneously to P7 mice for 7 days. In the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus, a significant increase was observed in immunoreactivity of doublecortin (DCX)-positive neuroblast after administration of SST.; (4) Conclusions: SST expression in the hippocampal sub-regions is transiently increased during the postnatal formation of the hippocampus and decreases after P21. In addition, SST is involved in neuroblast differentiation in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.
Keywords: hippocampus; neuroblast differentiation; postnatal; somatostatin.