The effects of puberty and castration on hippocampal dendritic spines of mice. A Golgi study

Meyer, Gundela; Ferres-Torres, R; Mas, Manuel

doi:10.1016/0006-8993(78)90309-8

Cited by 99 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…We showed that postpubertal rats have significantly lower dendritic spine number and density than prepubertal or pubertal rats. The decrease in dendritic spines in male mice from P45 to P55 reported by Meyer et al (1978) is consistent with our present observation. Moreover, a recent report by Zehr et al (Zehr et al, 2006) showed that spinophilin levels protein in the amygdala of male hamsters declined about 35-40% during pubertal maturation, similar to our current observed decrease of about 45% in CA1sr of female rats.…”

Section: Hippocampal Plasticity and Pubertysupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Although the mechanisms for these alterations in cognitive function are poorly understood, they may be due to developmental changes in synaptic plasticity that occur across the pubertal period. Consistent with this, reports show that synaptic density and/or dendritic spine number decrease during the transition from puberty to adulthood, as shown in monkey cortex (somatosensory: Zecevic & Rakic, 1991;prefrontal: Woo et al, 1997;visual: Bourgeois & Rakic, 1993) hamster medial amygdala (Zehr et al, 2006), and mouse hippocampus (Meyer et al, 1978).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…However, to our knowledge, the question of whether pubertal changes in hippocampal synaptic organization occur during the pubertal process has only been addressed by two groups. The first report (Meyer et al, 1978) counted dendritic spines in Golgi-impregnated CA1 tissues of male mice, and showed that the number of dendritic spines increased from P25 to P35 (during the progress of puberty), were maintained at this level through P45, and subsequently decreased to P55. A second group (Andersen & Teicher, 2004) used synaptophysin as a marker of synapses, and showed developmental changes in CA1 of female rats, with a decrease from day 80 to 100.…”

Section: Hippocampal Plasticity and Pubertymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the elevated neurite outgrowth and arborization in hypothalamus in response to estrogens (Reier et al, 1977;Matsumoto & Arai, 1976) also leads to a prediction that such changes may occur in hippocampus. By contrast, as discussed above, puberty is accompanied by decreased synapse number in several brain regions (Zecevic & Rakic, 1991;Bourgeois et al, 1994;Zehr et al, 2006;Meyer et al, 1978). To address these issues, using high-resolution microscopy we quantified spinophilin immunoreactivity in CA1sr as a marker of dendritic spines (Hao et al, 2003;Tang et al, 2004) in female rats during the pubertal process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Yıldırım

Mapp

Janssen

et al. 2008

Experimental Neurology

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Hippocampal dendritic spine and synapse numbers in female rats vary across the estrous cycle and following experimental manipulation of hormone levels in adulthood. Based on behavioral studies demonstrating that learning patterns are altered following puberty, we hypothesized that dendritic spine number in rat hippocampal CA1 region would change post-pubertally. Female SpragueDawley rats were divided into prepubertal (postnatal day (P) 22), peripubertal (P35) and postpubertal (P49) groups, with the progression of puberty evaluated by vaginal opening, and estrous cyclicity subsequently assessed by daily vaginal smears. Spinophilin immunoreactivity in dendritic spines was used as an index of spinogenesis in area CA1 stratum radiatum (CA1sr) of hippocampus. First, electron microscopy analyses confirmed the presence of spinophilin specifically in dendritic spines of CA1sr, supporting spinophilin as a reliable marker of hippocampal spines in young female rats. Second, stereologic analysis was performed to assess the total number of spinophilin-immunoreactive puncta (i.e. spines) and CA1sr volume in developing rats. Our results indicated that the number of spinophilin-immunoreactive spines in CA1sr was decreased 46% in the post-pubertal group compared to the two younger groups, whereas the volume of the hippocampus underwent an overall increase during this same developmental time frame. Third, to determine a potential role of estradiol in this process, an additional group of rats was ovariectomized (OVX) prepubertally at P22, then treated with estradiol or vehicle at P35, and spinophilin quantified as above in rats perfused on P49. No difference in spinophilin puncta number was found in OVX rats between the two hormone groups, suggesting that this developmental decrease is independent of peripheral estradiol. These changes in spine density coincident with puberty may be related to altered hippocampal plasticity and synaptic consolidation at this phase of maturity.

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Section: Hippocampal Plasticity and Pubertysupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Hippocampal Plasticity and Pubertymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Yıldırım

Mapp

Janssen

et al. 2008

Experimental Neurology

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“…Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 November 15. Two brain regions that have been found to be sensitive to pubertal hormones in both human and animal studies are the hippocampus and amygdala (Meyer et al, 1978, Giedd et al, 1996a, Giedd et al, 1996b, Romeo and Sisk, 2001, Giedd et al, 2006, Zehr et al, 2006. The volume of the amygdala and hippocampus has been shown to increase with age in human adolescents (Giedd et al, 1996a, Giedd et al, 1996b.…”

Section: Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pubertal exposure to anabolic androgenic steroids increases spine densities on neurons in the limbic system of male rats

Cunningham¹,

Claiborne²,

McGinnis³

2007

Neuroscience

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Human studies show that the number of teenagers abusing anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is increasing. During adolescence, brain development is altered by androgen exposure, which suggests that AAS may potentially alter central nervous system development. The goal of the present study was to determine whether pubertal AAS exposure increased dendritic spine densities on neurons within the medial amygdala and the dorsal hippocampus. Pubertal gonadally intact male rats received the AAS testosterone propionate (5mg/kg) or vehicle for 5 days/week for four weeks. To determine the long-term implications of pubertal AAS use, another set of males received the same AAS treatment and were then withdrawn from AAS exposure for 4 weeks. Results showed that pubertal AAS exposure significantly increased spine densities on neurons in the anterior medial amygdala, posterodorsal medial amygdala, and the CA1 region of the hippocampus compared to gonadally intact control males. Spine densities returned to control levels within the anterior medial amygdala and the posterodorsal medial amygdala 4 weeks after withdrawal. However, spine densities remained significantly elevated after AAS withdrawal in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, suggesting that pubertal AAS exposure may have a long-lasting impact on CA1 hippocampal neuroanatomy. Since pubertal AAS exposure increased spine densities and most excitatory synapses in the central nervous system occur on dendritic spines, AAS may increase neuronal excitation. It is proposed that this increase in excitation may underlie the behavioral responses seen in pubertal AAS-treated male rats. KeywordsTestosterone; Medial Amygdala; Hippocampus; Withdrawal; DiI Anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use by human adolescent males is on the rise (Burnett and Kleiman, 1994, DuRant et al., 1995, Melia et al., 1996. This is of particular concern because puberty is a time when increasing endogenous hormone levels influence brain maturation (Primus and Kellogg, 1990, Sisk et al., 2003), which may be adversely affected by AAS exposure. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptNeuroscience. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 November 15. Two brain regions that have been found to be sensitive to pubertal hormones in both human and animal studies are the hippocampus and amygdala (Meyer et al., 1978, Giedd et al., 1996a, Giedd et al., 1996b, Romeo and Sisk, 2001, Giedd et al., 2006, Zehr et al., 2006. The volume of the amygdala and hippocampus has been shown to increase with age in human adolescents (Giedd et al., 1...

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Abnormal Reinnervation as a Basis for Schizophrenia: A Hypothesis

Stevens

1992

Arch Gen Psychiatry

128

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The effects of puberty and castration on hippocampal dendritic spines of mice. A Golgi study

Cited by 99 publications

References 13 publications

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Pubertal exposure to anabolic androgenic steroids increases spine densities on neurons in the limbic system of male rats

Abnormal Reinnervation as a Basis for Schizophrenia: A Hypothesis

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