Significance of a highly refractory source during subduction initiation to form the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc

The ascendent theory that unifies the Earth Sciences is Plate Tectonics,a regime which is unique to Earth.Other convectively active,solid silicate bodies of our...     

Experience-dependent plasticity of dendritic spines in the developing rat barrel cortex in vivo

Do changes in neuronal structure underlie cortical plasticity? Here we used time-lapse two-photon microscopy of pyramidal neurons in layer 2/3 of developing rat barrel cortex to image the structural dynamics of dendritic spines and filopodia. We found that these protrusions were highly motile: spines and filopodia appeared, disappeared or changed shape over tens of minutes. To test whether sensory experience drives this motility we trimmed whiskers one to three days before imaging. Sensory deprivation markedly (approximately 40%) reduced protrusive motility in deprived regions of the barrel cortex during a critical period around postnatal days (P)11-13, but had no effect in younger (P8-10) or older (P14-16) animals. Unexpectedly, whisker trimming did not change the density, length or shape of spines and filopodia. However, sensory deprivation during the critical period degraded the tuning of layer 2/3 receptive fields. Thus sensory experience drives structural plasticity in dendrites, which may underlie the reorganization of neural circuits.     

Segmentation in the vertebrate nervous system

Although there is good evidence that growing axons can be guided by specific cues during the development of the vertebrate peripheral nervous system, little is known about the cellular mechanisms involved. We describe here an example where axons make a clear choice between two neighbouring groups of cells. Zinc iodide-osmium tetroxide staining of chick embryos reveals that motor and sensory axons grow from the neural tube region through the anterior (rostral) half of each successive somite. 180 degrees antero-posterior rotation of a portion of the neural tube relative to the somites does not alter this relationship, showing that neural segmentation is not intrinsic to the neural tube. Furthermore, if the somitic mesoderm is rotated 180 degrees about an antero-posterior axis, before somite segmentation, axons grow through the posterior (original anterior) half of each somite. Some difference therefore exists between anterior and posterior cells of the somite, undisturbed by rotation, which determines the position of axon outgrowth. It is widespread among the various vertebrate classes.