title: Basal dendritic length is reduced in the rat hippocampus following bilateral vestibular deafferentation.
abstract: Some previous studies in humans have shown that bilateral loss of vestibular function is associated with a significant bilateral atrophy of the hippocampus, which correlated with the patients' spatial memory deficits. By contrast, studies in rats have failed to detect any changes in hippocampal volume following bilateral vestibular loss. Therefore, in this study we investigated whether bilateral vestibular deafferentation (BVD) might result in more subtle morphological changes in the rat hippocampus, involving alterations in dendritic intersections, using Golgi staining and Sholl analysis. We found that at 1month following BVD, there was a significant decrease in basal (P⩽0.0001) but not apical dendritic intersections in the CA1 region of the hippocampus compared to sham-operated animals and anaesthetic controls. However, dendritic branching was not significantly affected. These results suggest that the rat hippocampus does undergo subtle morphological changes following bilateral vestibular loss, and that they may be in the form of alterations in dendritic structure.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Sangeeta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balabhadrapatruni
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Yiwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Anatomy, School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Napper
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Electronic address: paul.smith@stonebow.otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000293:injuries; D000818:Animals; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000473:pathology*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000473:pathology*; D003714:Denervation; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000294:innervation*
keywords: Golgi staining; Hippocampal dendrites; Rat; Sholl analysis; Vestibular lesions