TY - JOUR T1 - Chronic Psychosocial Stress Causes Apical Dendritic Atrophy of Hippocampal CA3 Pyramidal Neurons in Subordinate Tree Shrews JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 3534 LP - 3540 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.16-10-03534.1996 VL - 16 IS - 10 AU - Ana Marı́a Magariños AU - Bruce S. McEwen AU - Gabriele Flügge AU - Eberhard Fuchs Y1 - 1996/05/15 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/16/10/3534.abstract N2 - We have shown previously that repeated laboratory restraint stress or daily corticosterone administration affects the structure of CA3 hippocampal neurons in rats. In the present study, we investigated the effect of repeated daily psychosocial stress on the structure of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons in male tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri). Male tree shrews develop social hierarchies in which subordinates show characteristic changes in physiological and behavioral parameters when confronted with a dominant. In the present experiments, subordinate animals lost body weight soon after starting the daily social conflict, and urinary excretion of cortisol was elevated throughout the experiment as compared with the control period. Golgi-impregnated brain tissue from subordinates exposed to 28 d (1 hr/d) of social confrontations was compared with that fromcontrol nonstressed animals. The apical dendrites of the CA3 pyramidal cells from subordinates had a decreased number of branch points and total dendritic length as compared with controls. No differences were observed in apical dendritic spine density or in the basal dendritic tree morphology. The stress-induced CA3 apical dendritic atrophy in subordinates was prevented by administering daily oral doses of the antiepileptic drug phenytoin (Dilantin, Sigma, St. Louis, MO) (200 mg/kg), which interferes with excitatory amino acid (EAA) action. These results suggest that the naturalistic stressorpsychosocial stress induces specific structural changes in hippocampal neurons of subordinate male tree shrews. These changes, like those in the rat after glucocorticoid treatment or restraint stress, probably are mediated by activation of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal-axis acting in concert with endogenous EAAs from mossy fiber input. ER -