Dendrites of rod bipolar cells sprout in normal aging retina

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

8-8-2006

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume

103

Issue

32

DOI

10.1073/pnas.0605211103

Keywords

Plasticity; Senescence; Visual system

Abstract

The aging nervous system is known to manifest a variety of degenerative and regressive events. Here we report the unexpected growth of dendrites in the retinas of normal old mice. The dendrites of many rod bipolar cells in aging mice were observed to extend well beyond their normal strata within the outer plexiform layer to innervate the outer nuclear layer where they appeared to form contacts with the spherules of rod photoreceptors. Such dendritic sprouting increased with age and was evident at all retinal eccentricities. These results provide evidence of retinal plasticity associated with normal aging. © 2006 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

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