Abstract
Dendritic spines are small protrusions on dendrites that endow neurons with the ability to receive and transform synaptic input. Dendritic spine number and morphology are altered as a consequence of synaptic plasticity and circuit refinement during adolescence. Dendritic spine density (DSD) is significantly different based on sex in subcortical brain regions associated with the generation of sex-specific behaviors. It is largely unknown if sex differences in DSD exist in auditory and visual brain regions and if there are sex-specific changes in DSD in these regions that occur during adolescent development. We analyzed dendritic spines in 4-week-old (P28) and 12-week-old (P84) male and female mice and found that DSD is lower in female mice due in part to fewer short stubby, long stubby and short mushroom spines. We found striking layer-specific patterns including a significant age by layer interaction and significantly decreased DSD in layer 4 from P28 to P84. Together these data support the possibility of developmental sex differences in DSD in visual and auditory regions and provide evidence of layer-specific refinement of DSD over adolescent brain development.
Highlights
Dendritic spines are small protrusions on dendrites that endow neurons with the ability to receive and transform synaptic input
We set out to assess Dendritic spine density (DSD) and dendritic spine morphology in auditory and visual brain regions of male and female mice at P28 and P84 to determine if sex differences in dendritic spines are present at these ages and to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of synaptic remodeling across adolescence
We show for the first time that DSD on minor basal dendritic segments of pyramidal cells in A1, A2, V1, V2 and temporal association cortex (TeA) is significantly lower in female mice
Summary
Dendritic spines are small protrusions on dendrites that endow neurons with the ability to receive and transform synaptic input. We found striking layer-specific patterns including a significant age by layer interaction and significantly decreased DSD in layer 4 from P28 to P84 Together these data support the possibility of developmental sex differences in DSD in visual and auditory regions and provide evidence of layer-specific refinement of DSD over adolescent brain development. The number of dendritic spines on a neuron and the morphology of single spines are altered via actin remodeling as a consequence of synaptic plasticity and circuit refinement that occur during neurodevelopment or as a result of sensory experience. A caveat of many of these studies is that they included male animals only It remains unclear if interplays between sensory experience and alterations to spine density and morphology take place over adolescent brain development in sensory regions in female animals, as they have been shown to in males. There was a trend level reduction in long mushroom spine density from P28 to P84, providing additional evidence of synaptic remodeling over the adolescent period
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