Different patterns of dendritic branching of posterior collicular neurons in two mouse strains are associated with a difference in audiogenic seizure susceptibility.
Golgi preparations of the superficial layers of the posterior colliculus of two inbred strains of mice, differing in susceptibility to audigenic seizure, were examined. The cell bodies of neurons observed in DBA/2J mice were found to be, on average, significantly larger than those observed C57BL/6J mice. Both the spatial extent of dendritic arborisations and the complexity of dendritic branching were also found to be greater in DBA/2J mice. While these differences are associated with the difference in susceptibility to audiogenic seizure between these two strains, further investigations are called for before it can be asserted that this behavioral difference is causally related to the morphological differences that we describe.
Marchand
M J
MJ
Laboratoire de Neuropsychologie Expérimentale, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Canada.
Ward
R
R
Moreau
B
B
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012640:Seizures / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*