Figure 5.

Voluntary Running Restores Neuronal Morphology in VPA-Treated Mice

(A) Impaired morphology of DCX⁺ young neurons in the DG of VPA-treated mice is recovered by voluntary running (n = 4 for each group). Scale bar, 100 μm.

(B) Impaired morphology of Golgi-Cox stained neurons in the DG of VPA-treated mice is recovered by voluntary running (n = 3 for each group). Note that voluntary running recovered non-molecular layer-oriented dendrites in VPA-treated mice to molecular layer-oriented ones. Scale bar, 100 μm.

(C) Impaired morphology of Golgi-Cox stained neurons in the CA1 of VPA-treated mice is not recovered by voluntary running (n = 3 for each group). Note that the less-ramified and straighter apical dendrites in VPA-treated mice could not be recovered by voluntary running. Scale bar, 50 μm.

(D–F) Voluntary running recovers total dendritic length of DCX⁺ young neurons (D) and Golgi-Cox stained neurons (E) and increases dendritic complexity of Golgi-Cox stained neurons (F) in the DG of VPA-treated mice. See also Figures S5A and S5B for Sholl analysis.

(G–I) Abnormal dendritic span of DG neurons (G), but not of apical dendritic span of CA1 neurons (I), is recovered by voluntary running in VPA-treated mice, while basal dendrites of CA1 neurons show similar dendritic span across groups (H).

MC, prenatal methylcellulose (vehicle); MC + RW, prenatal methylcellulose and postnatal running; VPA, prenatal valproic acid; VPA + RW, prenatal valproic acid and postnatal running. Data are represented as means. Error bars indicate the SD. ^∗p < 0.05, ^∗∗∗p < 0.001, n.s., not significantly different, two-tailed t test. See also Figure S5.