Influence of a 30-day spaceflight on the structure of motoneurons of the trochlear nerve nucleus in mice

Abstract

During spaceflight and immediately after it, adaptive neuroplastic changes occur in the sensorimotor structures of the central nervous system, which are associated with changes of mainly vestibular and visual signals. It is known that the movement of the eyeball in the vertical direction is carried out by muscles that are innervated by the trochlear nerve (CN IV) and the oculomotor nerve (CN III). To elucidate the cellular processes underlying the atypical vertical nystagmus that occurs under microgravity conditions, it seems necessary to study the state of these nuclei in animals in more detail after prolonged space flights. We carried out a qualitative and quantitative light-optical and ultrastructural analysis of the nuclei of the trochlear nerve in mice after a 30-day flight on the Bion-M1 biosatellite. As a result, it was shown that the dendrites of motoneurons in the nucleus of the trochlear nerve significantly reorganized their geometry and orientation under microgravity conditions. The number of dendritic branches was increased, possibly in order to amplify the reduced signal flow. To ensure such plastic changes, the number and size of mitochondria in the soma of motoneurons and in axons coming from the vestibular structures increased. Thus, the main role in the adaptation of the trochlear nucleus to microgravity conditions, apparently, belongs to the dendrites of motoneurons, which rearrange their structure and function to enhance the flow of sensory information. These results complement our knowledge of the causes of atypical nystagmus in microgravity.