title: Neonatal food restriction and binaural ear occlusion interfere with the maturation of cortical motor pyramids in the rat.
abstract: Golgi-Cox-impregnated pyramidal neurons of layer five motor cortical area were investigated in control, binaural ear-occluded control, undernourished and binaural ear-occluded undernourished Wistar rats of 12, 20 and 30 days of age. In neonatally undernourished, binaural ear-occluded-undernourished and partly in ear-occluded-control subjects, there were significant reductions in both the number and extent of the distal part of the dendritic branches of motor pyramids compared to their controls. Moreover, minimal effects on perikarya measurements were observed. These findings suggest that neonatal undernutrition and the concurrent reduction of auditory cues affect dendritic arbor development and possibly the convergence of the auditory experience upon motor pyramids and may interfere with the neocortical modulation of postural and movements activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Neurobiology and Neurophysiology, Instituto de Neurobiologia, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, Campus UNAM Juriquilla, Querétaro, Qro 76001, Mexico.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torrero
authors.forename: Mirelta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Regalado
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salas
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar