Movements restriction and alterations of the number of spines distributed along the apical shafts of layer V pyramids in motor and primary sensory cortices of the peripubertal and adult rat

The number and distribution of spines along apical shafts of rapid-Golgi-stained layer V pyramidal cells from visual, motor and somatosensory cortical areas were analyzed in control and movement-restricted (beginning at 20 days old) Wistar rats killed at 30, 40, 80 and 120 days of age (experiment A). In other group of rats, spine density was analyzed when restriction initiates on day 40 and the animals were killed at 50, 60 and 80 days postpartum, or after restriction starting on day 80 and killed at 120 days of age (experiment B). It has been found that the restriction of movements significantly reduces the total number of spines on apical shafts in the three cortical areas, when this condition starts at 20, 40 or 80 days without changing the overall distribution of spines. Also present findings indicate that the effects of movements restriction are attenuated when they were concurrent with maturational brain processes (20-40 days) than when they occurred later in life. The question remains open of which part of the measured reduction on the number of spines is due to the immobilization and which to the stress associated with this maneuver.