Failure to detect collateral sprouting of mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons during early postnatal development

Using biochemical parameters the present study sought to assess the normal developmental pattern of the dopaminergic innervation of the olfactory tubercle (OT) and how it is affected by olfactory bulbectomy. In rats, the adult pattern of cellular organization is achieved in the OT gradually over the first 7 days after birth. On the other hand, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and [3H]dopamine ([3H]DA) uptake, while present at low levels, start to increase rapidly only after the first 7 days reaching adult levels by 40 and 20 days after birth, respectively. TH in dopamine (DA) cell bodies of A10 was already high, 40% of adult value, at birth, reached 150% by day 14 and decreased back to adult values by day 21 after birth. In 10-day-old rats, bulbectomy resulted, 30 days later, in an increase to 123% of control in TH activity and 137% in [3H]DA uptake within the OT. Comparable changes were found following bulbectomy in adults. However, bulbectomy in 1-day-old rats did not produce any significant changes 40 days later. The findings suggest that during postnatal growth TH activity is increased in DA cell bodies, preceding the changes in DA terminals of the OT, resembling the changes occurring during collateral sprouting in adults. In addition, changes indicative of collateral sprouting do not occur in response to deafferentation of the OT in 1-day-olds but do in 10-day-olds or older animals, a phenomenon probably related to a critical development period of the OT.