title: Laminar Differences in Dendritic Structure of Pyramidal Neurons in the Juvenile Rat Somatosensory Cortex.
abstract: Pyramidal cell structure varies between different cortical areas and species, indicating that the cortical circuits that these cells participate in are likely to be characterized by different functional capabilities. Structural differences between cortical layers have been traditionally reported using either the Golgi method or intracellular labeling, but the structure of pyramidal cells has not previously been systematically analyzed across all cortical layers at a particular age. In the present study, we investigated the dendritic architecture of complete basal arbors of pyramidal neurons in layers II, III, IV, Va, Vb, and VI of the hindlimb somatosensory cortical region of postnatal day 14 rats. We found that the characteristics of basal dendritic morphologies are statistically different in each cortical layer. The variations in size and branching pattern that exist between pyramidal cells of different cortical layers probably reflect the particular functional properties that are characteristic of the cortical circuit in which they participate. This new set of complete basal dendritic arbors of 3D-reconstructed pyramidal cell morphologies across each cortical layer will provide new insights into interlaminar information processing in the cerebral cortex.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica.|Departamento de Anatomía y Anatomía Patológica Comparada, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rojo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Leguey
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain.
authors.forename: Asta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kastanauskaite
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Concha
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bielza
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Larrañaga
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica.|Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DeFelipe
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica.|Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benavides-Piccione
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D010784:Photomicrography; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development
keywords: 3D reconstructions; branching pattern; cerebral cortex; cortical layer; intracellular injections; lucifer yellow; statistical univariate analysis