Effect of anisomycin on stimulation-induced changes in dendritic spines of the dentate granule cells

Tetanic stimulation of the entorhinal area induces significant enlargement of the average dendritic spine area and perimeter in the middle and distal thirds of the dentate molecular layer 4 and 90 min following stimulation. Four minutes after stimulation, the differences between the stimulated and control animals were 20% for the dendritic spine area and 9% for the perimeter in the middle third, and in the distal third 32 and 14%, respectively. Ninety minutes after stimulation the differences were 28 and 11% for the area and perimeter in the middle third, and 33 and 18% in the distal third, respectively. Anisomycin at a dose of 25 mg/kg had no significant effect on the average spine area or perimeter in the various thirds of the dentate molecular layer in the 19 and 105 min post-application intervals. This dose of anisomycin given 15 min prior to the stimulation suppresses the stimulation-induced spine changes in the 4 min interval. In the 90 min interval when the effect of anisomycin on protein synthesis is largely terminated, spine enlargement reappears, being 21% higher than the controls in the middle and distal thirds. The differential effect of anisomycin on dendritic spines in the two post-stimulation intervals is discussed in relation to the effect of anisomycin on protein synthesis. The present experiments thus demonstrate that the stimulation-induced spine enlargement in the dentate fascia can be suppressed by a protein synthesis blocking drug.