Guided motor training induces dendritic spine plastic changes in adult rat cerebellar purkinje cells

González-Burgos, Ignacio; González-Tapia, David; Zamora, Dulce A. Velázquez; Feria‐Velasco, Alfredo; Beas‐Zárate, Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2011.01.043

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…High running intensity and long training period might thus be required for exercise-induced adaptive changes in Purkinje cell morphology. This viewpoint is further supported by a recent study reporting treadmill running intensity- dependent changes in the spine number and shape of Purkinje cells (10). Rats after acrobat training showed a mild increase (ϳ20%) in the number of Purkinje synapses in paramedian lobules (2).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Chronic treadmill exercise in rats delicately alters the Purkinje cell structure to improve motor performance and toxin resistance in the cerebellum

Huang

Lin

Cho

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physiology

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CJ. Chronic treadmill exercise in rats delicately alters the Purkinje cell structure to improve motor performance and toxin resistance in the cerebellum. J Appl Physiol 113: 889-895, 2012. First published July 26, 2012 doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01363.2011.-Although exercise usually improves motor performance, the underlying cellular changes in the cerebellum remain to be elucidated. This study aimed to investigate whether and how chronic treadmill exercise in young rats induced Purkinje cell changes to improve motor performance and rendered the cerebellum less vulnerable to toxin insults. After 1-wk familiarization of treadmill running, 6-wk-old male Wistar rats were divided into exercise and sedentary groups. The exercise group was then subjected to 8 wk of exercise training at moderate intensity. The rotarod test was carried out to evaluate motor performance. Purkinje cells in cerebellar slices were visualized by lucifer yellow labeling in single neurons and by calbindin immunostaining in groups of neurons. Compared with sedentary control rats, exercised rats not only performed better in the rotarod task, but also showed finer Purkinje cell structure (higher dendritic volume and spine density with the same dendritic field). The exercise-improved cerebellar functions were further evaluated by monitoring the long-lasting effects of intraventricular application of OX7-saporin. In the sedentary group, OX7-saporin treatment retarded the rotarod performance and induced ϳ60% Purkinje cell loss in 3 wk. As a comparison, the exercise group showed much milder injuries in the cerebellum by the same toxin treatment. In conclusion, exercise training in young rats increased the dendritic density of Purkinje cells, which might play an important role in improving the motor performance. Furthermore, as Purkinje cells in the exercise group were relatively toxin resistant, the exercised rats showed good motor performance, even under toxin-treated conditions. morphology; OX7-saporin; two-photon microscopy; running; motor function THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL activity and brain functions has been widely investigated. In particular, physical activity in older subjects benefits their mental health by protecting the brain against age-related deterioration (6). Many exercise studies primarily focus on brain structural and functional changes related to cognitive improvements (15), with relatively few studies focusing on the motor performance. Consequently, although connections between cognitive deficits and age-associated brain differences have been elucidated, relationships with motor performance are less well understood. Interestingly, aging impacts brain structures and associated behaviors differentially, with the cerebellum showing earlier senescence than the hippocampus (31). As physically active older adults require less error monitoring and show improvements in motor performance (26), it is desirable to explore the beneficial effects of exercise on the cerebellum. Purkinje cells in aged rats show pronounced dendrite degener...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Chronic treadmill exercise in rats delicately alters the Purkinje cell structure to improve motor performance and toxin resistance in the cerebellum

Huang

Lin

Cho

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physiology

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“…On such a basis, it is intriguing to suggest that the larger spines of enriched animals are remarkably persistent and functionally stronger in their response to glutamate and in local regulation of intracellular calcium, and that the spine enlargement may be essential for an increased postsynaptic response in LTP (Grutzendler et al 2002;Kasai et al 2003;Holtmaat et al 2005). As advanced by Matsuzaki et al (2004), large spines act as ''memory units'' and are the structural basis of long-term memory (Kasai et al 2003;Matsuzaki et al 2004;González-Burgos et al 2011). Thus, enlarged spines can stabilize and retain long-term information and become critical for information storage (Kasai et al 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EE increases cerebellar production of neurotrophins (Angelucci et al 2009;Vazquez-Sanroman et al 2013) but not of synaptophysin, as conversely it occurs in forebrain, hippocampus, and thalamus (Nithianantharajah et al 2004). Additionally, learning complex acrobatic tasks (but not merely running) increases the number of synapses in Purkinje cells (Federmeier et al 2002;Kim et al 2002;Lee et al 2007;González-Burgos et al 2011). Purkinje cells represent an excellent model to investigate EE-induced synaptic changes given the dynamic changes they exhibit under diverse conditions, such as physical activity (Pysh and Weiss 1979;González-Burgos et al 2011 ), block of electrical activity (Bravin et al 1999;Morando et al 2001), deafferentation (Sotelo et al 1975), presence of ataxia (Rhyu et al 1999a, b) or olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (Ferrer et al 1988(Ferrer et al , 1994.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, learning complex acrobatic tasks (but not merely running) increases the number of synapses in Purkinje cells (Federmeier et al 2002;Kim et al 2002;Lee et al 2007;González-Burgos et al 2011). Purkinje cells represent an excellent model to investigate EE-induced synaptic changes given the dynamic changes they exhibit under diverse conditions, such as physical activity (Pysh and Weiss 1979;González-Burgos et al 2011 ), block of electrical activity (Bravin et al 1999;Morando et al 2001), deafferentation (Sotelo et al 1975), presence of ataxia (Rhyu et al 1999a, b) or olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (Ferrer et al 1988(Ferrer et al , 1994. Considering that the responses to environmental requests may occur through spine changes regulating in turn synaptic strength and signaling properties, the present research was aimed at analyzing the effects of a prolonged exposure to complex environment on density and size of Purkinje cell spines to provide information on synaptogenesis and circuit complexity (Koch and Poggio 1983;Turner 1984;Lee et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Activity-dependent structural plasticity of Purkinje cell spines in cerebellar vermis and hemisphere

et al. 2014

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The environmental enrichment (EE) paradigm is widely used to study experience-dependent brain plasticity. In spite of a long history of research, the EE influence on neuronal morphology has not yet been described in relation to the different regions of the cerebellum. Thus, aim of the present study was to characterize the EE effects on density and size of dendritic spines of Purkinje cell proximal and distal compartments in cerebellar vermian and hemispherical regions. Male Wistar rats were housed in an enriched or standard environment for 3.5 months from the 21st post-natal day onwards. The morphological features of Purkinje cell spines were visualized on calbindin immunofluorescence-stained cerebellar vermian and hemispherical sections. Density, area, length and head diameter of spines were manually (ImageJ) or automatically (Imaris) quantified. Results demonstrated that the Purkinje cell spine density was higher in enriched rats than in controls on both proximal and distal dendrite compartments in the hemisphere, while it increased only on distal compartment in the vermis. As for spine size, a significant increase of area, length and head diameter was found in the distal dendrites in both vermis and hemisphere. Thus, the exposure to a complex environment enhances synapse formation and plasticity either in the vermis involved in balance and locomotion and in the hemisphere involved in complex motor adaptations and acquisition of new motor strategies. These data highlight the importance of cerebellar activity-dependent structural plasticity underling the EE-related high-level performances.

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“…In this sense, it has been shown that Purkinje cells of the simple lobe of the cerebellum present plastic changes at the level of their dendritic spines during the performance of moderate motor activity. Such modiications consist of an increase in the stubby dendritic spines, which could be due to the input of excessive aferent synaptic information-inherent in the requirements of motor activity-which stimulates the postsynaptic components (the dendritic spines), thus causing the formation of the type of spines that would regulate the hypothetical hyperexcitability of the Purkinje neurons involved [55].…”

Section: Neuronal Plasticity In Cognitive and Noncognitive Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasticity of Dendritic Spines. Not Only for Cognitive Processes

González-Burgos¹,

Velázquez-Zamora²,

DavidGonzález-Tapia³

et al. 2017

Synaptic Plasticity

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Excitatory synaptic transmission is associated with the input of "new" information at synaptic junctions established by dendritic spines. The role that each type of spine plays in the transmission of the synaptic impulses is diferent. Indeed, there is a close relationship between the shape of spines and the diferential processing of the excitatory synaptic information that is relayed to them, inluencing in turn the transmission of synaptic information related to several psychoneural processes.The vast majority of the experimental evidence shows that speciic plastic interchanges of dendritic spines' shapes are related to speciic functional efects in the postsynapse, i.e., the acquisition or learning of new information (thin spines), or to the storage of information in memory (mushroom spines). Several brain regions are involved in other functions diferent than those of a cognitive nature, and all projection neurons in these areas possess dendritic spines. However, the functional signiicance of the changes that the spines of these neurons express has not been studied. Thus, in this Chapter we will discuss experimental evidence supporting the claim that dendritic spines express plastic changes in some brain regions that are not directly related to cognition, and we will also preliminarily approach their possible functional meaning.

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Guided motor training induces dendritic spine plastic changes in adult rat cerebellar purkinje cells

Cited by 24 publications

References 30 publications

Chronic treadmill exercise in rats delicately alters the Purkinje cell structure to improve motor performance and toxin resistance in the cerebellum

Chronic treadmill exercise in rats delicately alters the Purkinje cell structure to improve motor performance and toxin resistance in the cerebellum

Activity-dependent structural plasticity of Purkinje cell spines in cerebellar vermis and hemisphere

Plasticity of Dendritic Spines. Not Only for Cognitive Processes

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