Ovariectomy attenuates dendritic growth in hormone‐sensitive spinal motoneurons

The lumbar spinal cord of rats contains the sexually dimorphic, steroid‐sensitive spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB). Dendritic development of SNB motoneurons in male rats is biphasic, initially showing exuberant growth through 4 weeks of age followed by a retraction to mature lengths by 7 weeks of age. The initial growth is steroid dependent, attenuated by castration or aromatase inhibition, and supported by hormone replacement. Dendritic retraction is also steroid sensitive and can be prevented by testosterone treatment, but is unaffected by aromatase inhibition. Together, these results suggest a role for estrogens during the initial growth phase of SNB development. In this study, we tested whether ovarian hormones could support SNB somal and dendritic development. Motoneuron morphology was assessed in normal males and in females perinatally masculinized with dihydrotestosterone and then either ovariectomized or left intact. SNB motoneurons were retrogradely labeled with cholera toxin‐HRP at 4 or 7 weeks of age and reconstructed in three dimensions. Initial growth of SNB dendrites was reduced after ovariectomy in masculinized females. However, no differences in dendritic length were seen at 7 weeks of age between intact and ovariectomized masculinized females, and lengths in both groups were significantly lower than those of normal males. Together with previous findings, these results suggest that estrogens are involved in the early growth of SNB dendrites, but not in their subsequent retraction. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Neurobiol 48: 301–314, 2001