Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The complex and characteristic structures of dendrites are a crucial part of the neuronal architecture that underlies brain function, and as such, their development has been a focal point of recent research. It is generally believed...

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Main Authors: Reuter John E, Scott Ethan K, Luo Liqun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2003-06-01
Series:BMC Neuroscience
Online Access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/4/14
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spelling doaj-ae430504ea0f40a9a6ad7375f2c34dfb2020-11-25T01:05:31ZengBMCBMC Neuroscience1471-22022003-06-01411410.1186/1471-2202-4-14Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experienceReuter John EScott Ethan KLuo Liqun<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The complex and characteristic structures of dendrites are a crucial part of the neuronal architecture that underlies brain function, and as such, their development has been a focal point of recent research. It is generally believed that dendritic development is controlled by a combination of endogenous genetic mechanisms and activity-dependent mechanisms. Therefore, it is of interest to test the relative contributions of these two types of mechanisms towards the construction of specific dendritic trees. In this study, we make use of the highly complex Vertical System (VS) of motion sensing neurons in the lobula plate of the <it>Drosophila </it>visual system to gauge the importance of visual input and synaptic activity to dendritic development.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We find that the dendrites of VS1 neurons are unchanged in dark-reared flies as compared to control flies raised on a 12 hour light, 12 hour dark cycle. The dendrites of these flies show no differences from control in dendrite complexity, spine number, spine density, or axon complexity. Flies with genetically ablated eyes show a slight but significant reduction in the complexity and overall length of VS1 dendrites, although this effect may be due to a reduction in the overall size of the dendritic field in these flies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, our results indicate no role for visual experience in the development of VS dendrites, while spontaneous activity from photoreceptors may play at most a subtle role in the formation of fully complex dendrites in these high-order visual processing neurons.</p> http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/4/14
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Reuter John E
Scott Ethan K
Luo Liqun
spellingShingle Reuter John E
Scott Ethan K
Luo Liqun
Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
BMC Neuroscience
author_facet Reuter John E
Scott Ethan K
Luo Liqun
author_sort Reuter John E
title Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
title_short Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
title_full Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
title_fullStr Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
title_full_unstemmed Dendritic development of <it>Drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
title_sort dendritic development of <it>drosophila </it>high order visual system neurons is independent of sensory experience
publisher BMC
series BMC Neuroscience
issn 1471-2202
publishDate 2003-06-01
description <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The complex and characteristic structures of dendrites are a crucial part of the neuronal architecture that underlies brain function, and as such, their development has been a focal point of recent research. It is generally believed that dendritic development is controlled by a combination of endogenous genetic mechanisms and activity-dependent mechanisms. Therefore, it is of interest to test the relative contributions of these two types of mechanisms towards the construction of specific dendritic trees. In this study, we make use of the highly complex Vertical System (VS) of motion sensing neurons in the lobula plate of the <it>Drosophila </it>visual system to gauge the importance of visual input and synaptic activity to dendritic development.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We find that the dendrites of VS1 neurons are unchanged in dark-reared flies as compared to control flies raised on a 12 hour light, 12 hour dark cycle. The dendrites of these flies show no differences from control in dendrite complexity, spine number, spine density, or axon complexity. Flies with genetically ablated eyes show a slight but significant reduction in the complexity and overall length of VS1 dendrites, although this effect may be due to a reduction in the overall size of the dendritic field in these flies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, our results indicate no role for visual experience in the development of VS dendrites, while spontaneous activity from photoreceptors may play at most a subtle role in the formation of fully complex dendrites in these high-order visual processing neurons.</p>
url http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/4/14
work_keys_str_mv AT reuterjohne dendriticdevelopmentofitdrosophilaithighordervisualsystemneuronsisindependentofsensoryexperience
AT scottethank dendriticdevelopmentofitdrosophilaithighordervisualsystemneuronsisindependentofsensoryexperience
AT luoliqun dendriticdevelopmentofitdrosophilaithighordervisualsystemneuronsisindependentofsensoryexperience
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