title: Effects of colchicine treatment on the cholinergic septohippocampal system.
abstract: The influence of hippocampal target cells on the septohippocampal cholinergic system was studied using immunocytochemical and autoradiographic procedures. The destruction of dentate granular cells by colchicine injection promotes a significant increase in the density of acetylcholinesterase staining and cholinergic-muscarinic receptors in the zone denervated by the terminal axons of granular cells, which supports the hypothesis of a proliferation of cholinergic fibers in CA3. In the septal region the number of choline acetyl transferase positive cells was significantly lower (by 23%) ipsilaterally to the colchicine injection as compared to the contralateral side; when the hippocampus is almost completely destroyed by colchicine treatment this cell loss is more important (by over 50%). The present results agree with those of earlier studies and suggest that target-derived trophic factors are important for the maintenance of the basal forebrain cholinergic system and that the fascia dentata provides a significant source of such factors.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U. 29, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Represa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ben-Ari
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000502:physiology; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D003078:Colchicine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012016:Reference Values; D012688:Septum Pellucidum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase; D000109:Acetylcholine; D003078:Colchicine