Effects of preweaning environmental enrichment on basilar dendrites of pyramidal neurons in occipital cortex: a Golgi study.
The effects of postnatal environmental stimulation on the branching patterns of cortical dendrites were measured in rats. Pups were exposed to 4 daily multisensory enrichment sessions from days 10-24, while littermates were maintained in standard conditions. At 25 days of age, the brains were stained using the Golgi-Cox-Sholl method. Camera lucida drawings were made of the basilar dendritic trees from a total of 528 layer-III occipital cortex pyramidal neurons. A highly significant increase was found in number and length of segments from order 1-5 in the neurons from the enriched subjects.
Venable
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N
Departamento de Fisiología y Biofísica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.
Fernández
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V
Díaz
E
E
Pinto-Hamuy
T
T
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004777:Environment; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D012677:Sensation