"De novo" formation of synapses by experimentally induced presynaptic dendrites in adult mammalian brain.

Abstract

The paper presents morphological evidence that upon deafferentation small Golgi cells and granule cells of the cerebellar cortex as well as geniculo-cortical relay cells of the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus develop presynaptic sites on their otherwise exclusively postsynaptic dendrites. The new synapses are, therefore, mostly dendro-dendritic, a logical consequence of the fact that in the absence of axonal sprouting in the two regions, the reactive synaptogenesis in the cerebellar cortex and LGN is accomplished by the participation of the (newly formed) presynaptic dendrites.