Single course of antenatal betamethasone produces delayed changes in morphology and calbindin-D28k expression in a rat's cerebellar Purkinje cells.

In the current study, we analyzed the impact of antenatal betamethasone on macroscopic cerebellar development, Purkinje cell morphology and the expression of the neuroprotective protein calbindin-D28k. Pregnant rats (Sprague-Dawley) were randomly divided into two experimental groups: control (CONT) and betamethasone-treated (BET). At gestational day 20 (G20), BET dams were subcutaneously injected with a solution of 0.