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Volume 16, Number 13,
Issue of July 1, 1996
pp. 4059-4068
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience
Regulation of Dendritic Spine Density in Cultured Rat Hippocampal
Neurons by Steroid Hormones
Received Dec. 8, 1995; revised April 2, 1996; accepted April 4, 1996.
Diane D. Murphy1 and
Menahem Segal2
1 Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland 20892, and 2 Department of Neurobiology,
The Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100, Israel
The effects of gonadal steroid hormones on dendritic spines were
studied in hippocampal neurons that were dissociated and grown in
culture for 2-3 weeks. Exposure to estradiol caused up to a twofold
increase in dendritic spine density in these neurons. The effect of
estradiol was stereospecific and blocked by the steroid antagonist
tamoxifen. The estradiol-induced rise in spine density was blocked by
the NMDA antagonist APV, but not by the AMPA/KA antagonist DNQX. The
estradiol-induced rise in spine density was blocked by the
serine/threonine kinase inhibitor H7, but not by the tyrosine kinase
inhibitor genestein, and was partially mimicked by PMA, an activator of
protein kinase C. Estradiol also caused an increase in the fluorescence
intensity of synaptophysin-immunoreactive terminals, corresponding to
presynaptic boutons. Finally, estradiol caused a rise in
[Ca]i reactivity of the cultured neurons to
topical application of glutamate. These studies are the first to
examine receptor and second messenger regulation of dendritic spines,
and they illustrate the viability of cultured neurons as a powerful
test system to address issues related to the regulation of dendritic
spine maturation.
Key words:
dendritic spines;
estradiol;
culture;
hippocampal
neurons;
calcium;
plasticity
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