Linked Life Data

16458436

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/16458436

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-4-4
pubmed:abstractText
Numerous sex differences have been detected in the morphology of the dentate and hippocampal neurons and hippocampus-dependent memory functions. The aim of the present study was to ascertain whether the mossy cells, an interneuron population forming a recurrent excitatory circuit with the dentate granule cells, are sexually dimorphic. The brains of juvenile (15-16 days old) and peripubescent (45-46 days old) male and female guinea-pigs were Golgi-Cox stained. Mossy cells were sampled from the hilus in the septal third of the dentate gyrus and their dendritic tree and somata were analyzed. The analysis was separately conducted on mossy cells with soma located in the portions of the hilus that face the upper blade (upper hilus) and lower blade (lower hilus), respectively. The mossy cells in the upper hilus were found to be sexually dimorphic in both juvenile and peripubescent animals. At both ages females had a larger dendritic tree than males. This difference was due to a greater mean branch length and, in peripubescent animals, also to a greater number of branches. In juvenile males, the spines on the proximal dendrites (thorny excrescences) had a greater density than in females. No differences in spine density were present in peripubescent animals. Unlike the mossy cells in the upper hilus, the mossy cells in the lower hilus showed very few sex differences in juvenile animals and no differences in peripubescent animals. The few differences favored females, that had more proximal branches and a greater spine density on the distal dendrites than males. The results show that the mossy cells of the guinea-pig are sexually dimorphic prior to puberty. Extending a previous investigation, the present data provide evidence that sex differences are mainly confined to the dentate region corresponding to the upper blade and upper hilus. The observed segregation of the sexual dimorphism in the upper blade/upper hilus suggests that this region might underlie the sexual dimorphism in hippocampus-dependent memory functions.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
May
pubmed:issn
0306-4522
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
12
pubmed:volume
139
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
565-76
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Sex differences in the hilar mossy cells of the guinea-pig before puberty.
pubmed:affiliation
Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Generale, Università di Bologna, Piazza di Porta San Donato 2, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study