PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Martin Fuhrmann
AU  - Gerda Mitteregger
AU  - Hans Kretzschmar
AU  - Jochen Herms
TI  - Dendritic Pathology in Prion Disease Starts at the Synaptic Spine
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5062-06.2007
DP  - 2007 Jun 06
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 6224--6233
VI  - 27
IP  - 23
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/27/23/6224.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/27/23/6224.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2007 Jun 06; 27
AB  - Spine loss represents a common hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms, especially the relationship between spine elimination and neuritic destruction. We imaged cortical dendrites throughout a neurodegenerative disease using scrapie in mice as a model. Two-photon in vivo imaging over 2 months revealed a linear decrease of spine density. Interestingly, only persistent spines (lifetime ≥8 d) disappeared, whereas the density of transient spines (lifetime ≤4 d) was unaffected. Before spine loss, dendritic varicosities emerged preferentially at sites where spines protrude from the dendrite. These results implicate that the location where the spine protrudes from the dendrite may be particularly vulnerable and that dendritic varicosities may actually cause spine loss.