Figure 7

Morphological changes of ACP during postnatal development. (A) Sampled biocytin filled ACP at different developmental stages (in weeks). The diagram on the left summarizes the parameters analyzed using the Sholl analysis. Measures of each parameter are referred to all neuronal processes detected at each radial distance considered (blue segment in the diagram). The panels on the right show representative samples of proximal and distal dendritic branches at different developmental stages. (B) Comparison of dendritic lengths at different ages (N = 5 cells each). (C) Density plot showing the dendritic spine distribution obtained from the Sholl analysis in ACPs sampled at different ages (2–3 weeks, N = 5; 4 weeks, N = 5, 5+ weeks, N = 4). Dendritic spine densities (D, N = 5 cells each) and branching points (E,F) at different ages. (E) Cumulative branching curves obtained from the analyzed neurons show no drastic age-dependent changes (F) in dendritic organization and indicate homogeneity in the sampled neuronal morphologies. Scale bars 50 μm (A), 25 μm (C). See Table 2 for the results of the statistical tests.