Research articleDifferent patterns of motor activity induce differential plastic changes in pyramidal neurons in the motor cortex of rats: A Golgi study

- Dendritic spines of pyramidal cells in motor cortex increased after motor activity.
- Different regimes of motor activity induced differential plastic changes in spines.
- Thin spines increased when velocity changed during motor activity.
- Mushroom spines increased when velocity and incline changed during motor activity.

Rehabilitation is a process which favors recovery after brain damage involving motor systems, and neural plasticity is the only real resource the brain has for inducing neurobiological events in order to bring about re-adaptation. Rats were placed on a treadmill and made to walk, in different groups, at different velocities and with varying degrees of inclination. Plastic changes in the spines of the apical and basal dendrites of fifth-layer pyramidal neurons in the motor cortices of the rats were detected after study with the Golgi method. Numbers of dendritic spines increased in the three experimental groups, and thin, mushroom, stubby, wide, and branched spines increased or decreased in proportion depending on the motor demands made of each group. Along with the numerical increase of spines, the present findings provide evidence that dendritic spines' geometrical plasticity is involved in the differential performance of motor activity.