Possible anatomical basis of recovery of function after neonatal frontal lesions in rats.
Rats given medial frontal lesions on Postnatal Day 1 or Day 10 were trained on the Morris water task on Days 19-21 or Days 56-58. The operated groups were equally impaired at the water task on Days 19-21, but the Day 10 rats had recovered by 56 days. Dendritic arborization and spine density were analyzed in parietal layer II-III pyramidal cells. At Day 60, but not at Day 22, the Day 10 animals had more dendritic spines per unit dendritic length than did the controls or Day 1 rats. Thus, there was functional recovery rather than sparing after frontal lesions at 10 days, and the recovery was correlated with an increase in dendritic spines.
Kolb
B
B
Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Gibb
R
R
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats