Perinatal morphine II: Changes in cortical plasticity

✍ Scribed by E. Germani; E. Lesma; S. De Biasi; A. M. Di Giulio; A. Bertelli; A. Gorio

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 640 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0360-4012
• DOI: 10.1002/jnr.490420611

✦ Synopsis

We have previously shown that perinatal exposure to morphine impairs reactive plasticity of serotonin (5- HT) neurons following selective neonatal lesion (Gorio et al., J Neurosci Res 34:462-471, 1993). This study shows that morphine inhibits also that the compensatory sprouting of intact axons after partial denervation. Neonatal 6-OHDA injection causes norepinephrine (NE) depletion in the frontal cortex, which triggers a compensatory increase of dopamine, serotonin (5-HT), and met-enkephalin content correlated by the increased density of tyrosine hydroxylase-and 5-HT-positive axons. In perinatal morphine-treated rats, no compensatory changes are observed after neonatal 6-OHDA depletion of NE in the frontal cortex.