Figure 5. Effects of running and caloric restriction on dendritic spine density in the hippocampus of db/db and wild type mice.
(A) In wild type mice, running, caloric restriction, or both treatments all enhanced dendritic spine density in the dentate gyrus. While sedentary db/db mice fed ad libitum had fewer dendritic spines, relative to wild type mice in the same condition, this deficit could be partially mitigated by running, caloric restriction, or the combination. Asterisk (*) indicates significance at p<0.05 relative to animals in the same genotype. Pound sign (#) indicates significant difference between wild type and db/db mice in the sedentary, ad libitum diet condition. (B), Dentate gyrus granule neuron visualized with Golgi impregnation. Scale bar = 20 μm. (C), Dendritic segments from each of the conditions. Scale bar = 5 μm. Abbreviations: CR = caloric restriction, AL = ad libitum, RUN = runner, SED = sedentary.