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Temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with changes in the morphology of hippocampal dentate granule cells. These changes are evident in numerous models that are associated with substantial neuron loss and spontaneous recurrent seizures. By contrast, previous studies have shown that in the kindling model, it is possible to administer a limited number of stimulations sufficient to produce a lifelong enhanced sensitivity to stimulus evoked seizures without associated spontaneous seizures and minimal neuronal loss. Here we examined whether stimulation of the amygdala sufficient to evoke five convulsive seizures (class IV or greater on Racine's scale) produce morphological changes similar to those observed in models of epilepsy associated with substantial cell loss. The morphology of GFP-expressing granule cells from Thy-1 GFP mice was examined either 1 day or 1 month after the last evoked seizure. Interestingly, significant reductions in dendritic spine density were evident 1 day after the last seizure, the magnitude of which had diminished by 1 month. Further, there was an increase in the thickness of the granule cell layer 1 day after the last evoked seizure, which was absent a month later. We also observed an increase in the area of the proximal axon, which again returned to control levels a month later. No differences in the number of basal dendrites were detected at either time point. These findings demonstrate that the early stages of kindling epileptogenesis produce transient changes in the granule cell body layer thickness, molecular layer spine density, and axon proximal area, but do not produce striking rearrangements of granule cell structure., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Impaired gating by hippocampal dentate granule cells may promote the development of limbic epilepsy by facilitating seizure spread through the hippocampal trisynaptic circuit. The second synapse in this circuit, the dentate granule cell≫CA3 pyramidal cell connection, may be of particular importance because pathological changes occurring within the dentate likely exert their principal effect on downstream CA3 pyramids. Here, we utilized GFP-expressing mice and immunolabeling for the zinc transporter ZnT-3 to reveal the pre- and postsynaptic components of granule cell≫CA3 pyramidal cell synapses following pilocarpine-epileptogenesis. Confocal analyses of these terminals revealed that while granule cell presynaptic giant boutons increased in size and complexity 1 month after status epilepticus, individual thorns making up the postsynaptic thorny excrescences of the CA3 pyramidal cells were reduced in number. This reduction, however, was transient, and 3 months after status, thorn density recovered. This recovery was accompanied by a significant change in the distribution of thorns along pyramidal cells dendrites. While thorns in control animals tended to be tightly clustered, thorns in epileptic animals were more evenly distributed. Computational modeling of thorn distributions predicted an increase in the number of boutons required to cover equivalent numbers of thorns in epileptic vs. control mice. Confirming this prediction, ZnT-3 labeling of presynaptic giant boutons apposed to GFP-expressing thorns revealed a near doubling in bouton density, while the number of individual thorns per bouton was reduced by half. Together, these data provide clear evidence of novel plastic changes occurring within the epileptic hippocampus., (Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Altered granule cell>>CA3 pyramidal cell synaptic connectivity may contribute to the development of limbic epilepsy. To explore this possibility, granule cell giant mossy fiber bouton plasticity was examined in the kindling and pilocarpine models of epilepsy using green fluorescent protein-expressing transgenic mice. These studies revealed significant increases in the frequency of giant boutons with satellite boutons 2 days and 1 month after pilocarpine status epilepticus, and increases in giant bouton area at 1 month. Similar increases in giant bouton area were observed shortly after kindling. Finally, both models exhibited plasticity of mossy fiber giant bouton filopodia, which contact GABAergic interneurons mediating feedforward inhibition of CA3 pyramids. In the kindling model, however, all changes were fleeting, having resolved by 1 month after the last evoked seizure. Together, these findings demonstrate striking structural plasticity of granule cell mossy fiber synaptic terminal structure in two distinct models of adult limbic epileptogenesis. We suggest that these plasticities modify local connectivities between individual mossy fiber terminals and their targets, inhibitory interneurons, and CA3 pyramidal cells potentially altering the balance of excitation and inhibition during the development of epilepsy., (Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Dentate granule cells play a critical role in the function of the entorhinal-hippocampal circuitry in health and disease. Dentate granule cells are situated to regulate the flow of information into the hippocampus, a structure required for normal learning and memory. Correspondingly, impaired granule cell function leads to memory deficits, and, interestingly, altered granule cell connectivity may contribute to the hyperexcitability of limbic epilepsy. It is important, therefore, to understand the molecular determinants of synaptic connectivity of these neurons. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor TrkB are expressed at high levels in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus, and are implicated in regulating neuronal development, neuronal plasticity, learning, and the development of epilepsy. Whether and how TrkB regulates granule cell structure, however, is incompletely understood. To begin to elucidate the role of TrkB in regulating granule cell morphology, here we examine conditional TrkB knockout mice crossed to mice expressing green fluorescent protein in subsets of dentate granule cells. In stratum lucidum, where granule cell mossy fiber axons project, the density of giant mossy fiber boutons was unchanged, suggesting similar output to CA3 pyramidal cell targets. However, filopodial extensions of giant boutons, which contact inhibitory interneurons, were increased in number in TrkB knockout mice relative to wildtype controls, predicting enhanced feedforward inhibition of CA3 pyramidal cells. In knockout animals, dentate granule cells possessed fewer primary dendrites and enlarged dendritic spines, indicative of disrupted excitatory synaptic input to the granule cells. Together, these findings demonstrate that TrkB is required for development and/or maintenance of normal synaptic connectivity of the granule cells, thereby implying an important role for TrkB in the function of the granule cells and hippocampal circuitry.

The present work tested the hypothesis that the anatomic and developmental patterns of status epilepticus-induced increases of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein coincided with status epilepticus-induced increases of phospho-Trk immunoreactivity, a measure of TrkB receptor activation, in rat hippocampus. In P22 rats, robust increases of phospho-Trk immunoreactivity were detected in the mossy fiber pathway of the hippocampus one day following kainate-induced status epilepticus. Conversely, no change in phospho-Trk immunoreactivity was detected in P8 or P14 rats. In P17 rats, intermediate levels of increased phospho-Trk immunoreactivity were detected, again in the mossy fiber pathway. Like phospho-Trk immunoreactivity, marked increases of BDNF immunoreactivity were detected in the mossy fiber pathway of P22 but not P14 rats. Dissociations were found in P17 rats following status epilepticus in that striking increases of BDNF, but not phospho-Trk immunoreactivity were detected. Immunoprecipitation and Western blot analyses of hippocampal extracts after status epilepticus showed increased phospho-TrkB, but not TrkB immunoreactivity in P22 rats, thereby confirming and extending the immunohistochemical findings. While most of the findings support the hypothesis, important dissociations among individual animals at P17 were identified. Together the findings are consistent with the proposal that status epilepticus-induced increase of BDNF content in the mossy fibers is necessary, but not sufficient, to effect activation of TrkB, as revealed by phospho-Trk immunoreactivity. Furthermore, these results provide the first characterization of seizure-induced increases in BDNF protein and TrkB receptor activation in developing animals.