figshare
Browse

Supplementary Material for: Dendritic morphology of developing hippocampal neurons in Cyp11a1 null mice

Download (235.93 kB)
dataset
posted on 2024-07-02, 10:36 authored by Jiang H.-H., Wu T.-H., Lee L.-J., Lee J.-C., Chung B.-C., Yang F.-M., Hu M.-C.
Introduction: Neurosteroids have a variety of neurological functions, such as neurite growth, neuroprotection, myelination, and neurogenesis. P450scc, encoded by CYP11A1 gene, is the cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme that catalyzes the first and rate limiting step in the steroidogenesis. In this study, we examine the dendritic morphology in developing hippocampal neurons of Cyp11a1 null mice at P15, a critical period for synapse formation and maturation. Methods: Knockout mice were maintained until P15 with hormone administration. The Golgi-Cox method stained CA1 and CA3 pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus to reveal dendritic morphology. Results: We demonstrated that Cyp11a1 null mice usually die within 7 days after birth and thus collected brain samples at postnatal day 5 (P5) for examination. There were significant shrinkage of dendrite size and diminishment of dendritic branching in CA1 and CA3 pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus of Cyp11a1 null mice, suggesting a developmental delay. We wonder if this delay may catch up later in life. Since the age of P15 is a critical period for synapse formation and maturation, the Cyp11a1 null mice were rescued by receiving hormone administration until P15 that the dendritic morphology in the developing hippocampal neurons could be examined. The results indicated that the total dendritic length, number of dendritic branches, as well as dendritic arborization in the CA1 and CA3 pyramidal neurons are significantly decreased in P15 knockout mice when compared to the wild type. The spine densities were also significantly decreased. In addition, the western blot analysis revealed decrease PSD-95 expression levels in the knockout mice compared to the wild type at P15. Conclusion: These results suggested that Cyp11a1 deficiency impairs the dendritic structures in the developing hippocampal pyramidal neurons.

History

Usage metrics

    Developmental Neuroscience

    Categories

    Keywords

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC