Figure 5. Sholl Analysis: Morphometric parameters of apical and basal trees in the CA1 following protracted abstinence from chronic nicotine or saline administration during adolescence or adulthood.

Data are presented as dendritic characteristic vs distance from soma (μM) for mice exposed to nicotine during adolescence (left) or adulthood (right). Adolescent nicotine exposure resulted in reduced total intersections in the apical trees of the CA1 pyramidal neurons when measured 40 days later (* p < 0.05). No differences in number of intersections between saline and nicotine were found when drug exposure occurred during adulthood. There were no differences between saline and nicotine exposure at either age in total dendritic lengths. No differences in bifurcations in CA1 pyramidal cells were found between saline and nicotine exposure during either adolescent or adulthood. n = 3-4 mice (10 neurons)/age/drug condition.