Lesion-induced transneuronal plasticity in the adult rat hippocampus

The process of reactive synaptogenesis has been demonstrated in several areas of the central nervous system, including the hippocampal dentate gyrus. After a complete unilateral entorhinal lesion, approximately 85% of the input to the outer two-thirds of the ipsilateral dentate molecular layer is lost. Bilateral fluctuations in synaptic density within non-denervated zones of the dentate molecular layer predict further alterations in neural circuitry at sites located transneuronally to the denervated dentate granule cells. Using quantitative electron microscopy, our study demonstrates a complete cycle of synapse loss and reacquisition within the ipsilateral but not contralateral CA4/hilus region of the hippocampal formation. This area is one of the terminal fields for the dentate granule cell mossy fiber axons. In addition the granule cell mossy fiber axons sprout during the postlesion time course and form a significantly increased number of new mossy fiber terminals within the ipsilateral and contralateral CA4/hilus area. Our results indicate that responses to brain injury may no longer be confined to a local denervated site, but probably include polyneuronal circuitry loops, which may encompass one or more areas of the central nervous system. Previous difficulties in providing a close behavioral or functional correlation to localized structural events may be explained by a more global brain response to an injury.