Bilateral increase of perforated synapses after unilateral dopamine depletion.

In recent years attention has been focused on perforated synapses considering their possible involvement in synaptic plasticity in the nervous system. It has been hypothesized that an increase in the number of synapses may represent a structural basis for the enduring expression of synaptic plasticity during some events that involve memory and learning; also it has been suggested that perforated synapses increase in number after some experimental situations. The aim of this study was to analyze whether the dopamine depletion produces changes in the synaptology of the corpus striatum of rats after the unilateral injection of 6-OHDA.