Premium
Chronic treatment with melatonin stimulates dendrite maturation and complexity in adult hippocampal neurogenesis of mice
Author(s) -
RamirezRodriguez Gerardo,
OrtízLópez Leonardo,
DomínguezAlonso Aline,
BenítezKing Gloria A.,
Kempermann Gerd
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of pineal research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1600-079X
pISSN - 0742-3098
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-079x.2010.00802.x
Subject(s) - melatonin , neurogenesis , doublecortin , biology , medicine , hippocampal formation , endocrinology , circadian rhythm , dentate gyrus , neuroscience
In the course of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, the postmitotic maturation and survival phase is associated with dendrite maturation. Melatonin modulates the survival of new neurons with relative specificity. During this phase, the new neurons express microtubule‐associated protein doublecortin (DCX). Here, we show that the entire population of cells expressing DCX is increased after 14 days of treatment with melatonin. As melatonin also affects microtubule polymerization which is important for neuritogenesis and dendritogenesis, we studied the consequences of chronic melatonin administration on dendrite maturation of DCX‐positive cells. Treatment with melatonin increased the number of DCX‐positive immature neurons with more complex dendrites. Sholl analysis revealed that melatonin treatment lead to greater complexity of the dendritic tree. In addition, melatonin increased the total volume of the granular cell layer. Besides its survival‐promoting effect, melatonin thus also increases dendritic maturation in adult neurogenesis. This might open the opportunity of using melatonin as an adjuvant in attempts to extrinsically stimulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis in neuropsychiatric disease, dementia or cognitive ageing.