Dendritic patterns of granule cells in organotypic explants of fetal and neonatal mouse hippocampal formation

Granule and granule-like neurons were labeled by Golgi and HRP techniques in the dentate area of fetal and neonatal organotypic hippocampal explants after 1 day-8 weeks in vitro. These cells resembled granule cells labeled in situ with similar techniques, although the dendritic pattern and spine development were not as elaborate as observed on granule cells from adult rodents. Many of these neurons retained basilar or multiple dendrites after 8 weeks in culture, a characteristic often associated with immature granule cells, granule cells in the reeler mutant mouse and tissues removed from human epileptic foci.