GROWTH AND PLASTICITY OF CORTICAL DENDRITES

Abstract

Publisher Summary The studies of the visual cortex of adult rats have described the morphology of Golgi-impregnated neurons and their ultrastructure and synaptic connections. This chapter discusses the changes in the geometry of cortical cell types during normal development. The morphological, functional, and chemical properties of cortical neurons are influenced throughout life by factors resulting through their interaction with the environment. This chapter presents the study of the development of the three-dimensional dendritic geometry of layer IV nonpyramidal neurons and layer II pyramidal neurons in Golgi-Cox preparations. Both cell types appear highly indifferentiated during most of the first week of postnatal life. The growth of dendrites occurs from the end of the first week to the middle of the third postnatal week when the nonpyramidal and pyramidal cells achieve their dendritic configuration. The only growth that continues after this stage of development is the elongation of the terminal dendrites. Through these segments, cortical cells retain the ability for plasticity at least through a part of adult life. The elaboration of dendrites of nonpyramidal and pyramidal neurons in the visual cortex of the rat occurs for the most part from the end of the first week until the middle of the third week of postnatal life.