Summary
The aim of the study was to compare the effect of housing conditions on the intact and lesioned brain. Focal brain ischemia was induced by ligation of the right middle cerebral artery distal to the striatal branches in male, spontaneously hypertensive rats. The rats were postoperatively housed in individual cages for 24 h, then housed either in an enriched environment, i.e. larger cages allowing various activities or in standard laboratory cages, four to five animals in each cage. Nonlesioned rats were housed in the same way. Three weeks later the rats were anesthetized and the brains perfused with formaldehyde in situ. The dendritic geometry was studied with Three-Dimensional confocal laser scanning microscopy after microinjection of Lucifer Yellow in individual pyramidal neurons in layers II/III and V/VI in the left parietal cortex. Nissl-stained sections were used to visualize layers and area borders of the cortex. Nonlesioned rats in the enriched environment had significantly more dendritic spines than rats in standard cages, in all layers studied. Individual spine morphology was significantly different, with more branched spines and an increase of spine head and neck diameter, in enriched rats. In lesioned rats housed in the standard environment, pyramidal neurons in cortical layers II/III contralateral to the infarct were more heterogeneous then in nonlesioned rats in the same environment, and the number of spines was reduced. Neurons in rats postoperatively housed in an enriched environment were less heterogeneous and had significantly more spines than rats in standard housing (P<0.05), reaching the same number as in intact rats in a standard environment. In layers V/VI the number of dendritic spines on pyramidal neurons was significantly lower than in intact rats, in both lesioned groups. We conclude that housing in an enriched environment increases neuronal plasticity in the intact brain, and in addition, significantly improves dendritic morphology of contralateral pyramidal neurons in layers II/III after permanent focal brain ischemia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Belichenko PV, Dahlstrom A (1995) Mapping of the human brain in normal and pathological situations: the single cell and fiber level, employing Lucifer Yellow microinjections, immunofluorescence, and 3D confocal laser scanning reconstruction. Neurosci Prot 95–050–03–01–30
Bennett EL, Diamond MC, Krech D, Rosenzweig MR (1964) Chemical and anatomical plasticity of brain. Science 146: 610 – 619
Bryan GK, Riesen AH (1989) Deprived somatosensory-motor experience in stumptailed monkey neocortex: dendritic spine density and dendritic branching of layer IIIB pyramidal cells. J Comp Neurol 286: 208 – 217
Buchkremer-Ratzmann I, August M, Hagemann G,Witte OW (1996) Electrophysiological transcortical diaschisis after cortical photothrombosis in rat brain. Stroke 27: 1105 – 1111
Diamond MC, Krech D, Rosenzweig MR (1964) The effects of an enriched environment on the histology of the rat cerebral cortex. J Comp Neurol 123: 111 – 119
Eilers J, Konnerth A (1997) Dendritic signal integration. Curr Opin Neurobiol 7: 385 – 390
Fischer M, Kaech S, Knutti D, Matus A (1998) Rapid actin-based plasticity in dendritic spines. Neuron 20: 847 – 854
Forgie ML, Gibb R, Kolb B (1996) Unilateral lesions of the forelimb area of rat motor cortex: lack of evidence for use-dependent neural growth in the undamaged hemisphere. Brain Res 710: 249 – 259
Globus A, Rosenzweig MR, Bennett EL, Diamond MC (1973) Effect of differential experience on dendritic spine counts in rat cerebral cortex. J Comp Physiol Psychol 82: 175 – 181
Grabowski M, Sorensen JC, Mattsson B, Zimmer J, Johsansson BB (1995) Influence of an enriched environment and cortical grafting on functional outcome in brain infarcts of adult rats. Exp Neurol 133: 96 – 102
Harris KM, Jensen FE, Tsao B (1992) Three-dimensional structure of dendritic spines and synapses in rat hippocampus (CA1) at postnatal day 15 and adult ages: implications for the maturation of synaptic physiology and long-term potentiation. J Neurosci 12: 2685 – 2705
Hess G, Aizenman CD, Donoghue JP (1996) Conditions for the induction of long-term poten¬tiation in Layer II/III horizontal connections of the rat motor cortex. J Neurophysiol 75: 1765 – 1777
Holloway RL (1966) Dendritic branching: some preliminary results of training and complexity in rat visual cortex. Brain Res 2: 39 – 396
Johansson BB (1996) Functional outcome in rats transferred to an enriched environment 15 days after focal brain ischemia. Stroke 27: 324 – 326
Johansson BB (2000) Brain plasticity and stroke rehabilitation. The Willis Lecture. Stroke 31: 223 – 231
Johansson BB, Ohlsson A-L (1996) Environment, social interaction and physical activity as de-terminants of functional outcome after cerebral infarction in the rat. Exp Neurol 139: 322 – 327
Jones TA, Schallert T (1992) Overgrowth and pruning of dendrites in adult rats recovering from neocortical damage. Brain Res 581: 156 - 160
Jones TA, Schallert T (1994) Use-dependent growth of pyramidal neurons after neocortical damage. J Neurosci 14: 2140 – 2152
Jones TA, Kleim JA, Greenough WT (1996) Synaptogenesis and dendritic growth in the cortex opposite unilateral sensorimotor cortex damage in adult rats: a quantitative electron microscopic examination. Brain Res 733: 142 – 148
Kolb B (1995) Brain plasticity and behaviour. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey
Kolb B, Gibb R (1991) Environmental enrichment and cortical injury: behavioral and anatomical consequences of frontal cortex lesions. Cereb Cortex 1: 189 – 198
Martin LJ, Spicer DM, Lewis MH, Gluck JP, Cork LC (1991) Social deprivation of infant rhesus monkeys alters the chemoarchitecture of the brain: I. Subcortical regions. J Neurosci 11: 3344 – 3358.
Ohlsson A-L, Johansson BB (1995) Environment influences functional outcome of cerebral in¬farction in rats. Stroke 26: 644 – 649
Prusky G, Whishow IQ (1996) Morphology of identified corticospinal cells in the rat following motor cortex injury: absence of use-dependent change. Brain Res 714: 1 – 8
Reinecke S, Lutzenburg M, Hagemann G, Bruehl C, Neumann-Haefelin T, Witte OW (1999) Electrophysiological transcortical diaschisis after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats. Neurosci Lett 261: 85 – 88
Saito S, Kobayashi S, Ohashi Y Igarashi M, Komiya Y, Ando S (1994) Decreased synaptic density in aged brains and its prevention by rearing under enriched environment as revealed by synaptophysin contents. J Neurosci Res 39: 57 – 62
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Johansson, B.B., Belichenko, P.V. (2001). Environmental Influence on Neuronal and Dendritic Spine Plasticity After Permanent Focal Brain Ischemia. In: Maturation Phenomenon in Cerebral Ischemia IV. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59446-5_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59446-5_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-41107-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59446-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive