Bexarotene treatment increases dendritic length in the nucleus accumbens without change in the locomotor activity and memory behaviors, in old mice.

The aged brain has biochemical and morphological alterations in the dendrites of the pyramidal neurons of the limbic system, which consequently trigger motor and cognitive deficits. Bexarotene 4-[1-(3,5,5,8,8-pentamethyl-6,7-dihydronaphthalen-2-yl)ethenyl]benzoic acid is a selective agonist of X-retinoid receptors which acts by binding to the intracellular retinoic acid receptors (RAR). It decreases oxidative and inflammatory activity, in addition to the transport of lipids, mechanisms that together could have a neuroprotective effect.

Chronic administration of resveratrol prevents morphological changes in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of aged rats.

Resveratrol may induce its neuroprotective effects by reducing oxidative damage and chronic inflammation apart from improving vascular function and activating longevity genes, it also has the ability to promote the activity of neurotrophic factors. Morphological changes in dendrites of the pyramidal neurons of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus have been reported in the brain of aging humans, or in humans with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. These changes are reflected particularly in the decrement of both the dendritic tree and spine density.

Clozapine administration reverses behavioral, neuronal, and nitric oxide disturbances in the neonatal ventral hippocampus rat.

Clozapine is widely used in the treatment of schizophrenia; however its complete mechanism of action is not fully established. The neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion (nVHL) has emerged as a model of schizophrenia-related behavior. Our group has previously shown hyperresponsiveness to novel environment, neuronal atrophy in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) neurons as well as abnormal levels of nitric oxide (NO) in the PFC of the nVHL rat.

Maternal separation disrupts dendritic morphology of neurons in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and nucleus accumbens in male rat offspring.

Neonatal maternal separation (MS) in rats has widely been used as a neurodevelopmental model to mimic mood-related disorders. MS produces a wide array of behavioral deficits that persist throughout adulthood. In this study we investigate the effect of MS and substitute maternal handling (human handling) on the dendritic morphology of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the CA1 ventral hippocampus, and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), brain regions in male rats that have been associated with affective disorders at pre-pubertal (postnatal day 35 (PND35)) and post-pubertal (PND60) ages.