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<abstract xmlns="http://eprints.org/ep2/data/2.0">Dendrites and spines undergo dynamic changes in physiological conditions, such as learning and memory,&#13;
and in pathological conditions, such as epilepsy. Abnormalities in dendritic spines have commonly&#13;
been observed in brain specimens from epilepsy patients and animal models of epilepsy. However, the&#13;
functional implications and clinical consequences of this dendritic pathology for epilepsy are uncertain.&#13;
Motility of dendritic spines and axonal filopodia has been recently discovered by the advanced imaging&#13;
techniques, and remains to a large degree an exciting phenomenology in search of function. Here&#13;
we demonstrate the effect of kainic acid (KA), which is a structural analog of glutamate, on dendritic&#13;
spine motility in hippocampal CA1 area at the different stages of brain development. In order to reveal&#13;
the changes that take place in spine and filopodial motility in the epileptic model of brain, time-lapse&#13;
imaging of acute hippocampal slices treated with various concentrations of KA after different incubation&#13;
time points was performed. The effects of KA exposure were tested on the slices from young (postnatal&#13;
day (P)7–P10) and adolescent (P28–P30) Thy1-YFPH transgenic mice. Slices were treated with either&#13;
50 �M or 100 �M of KA, for either 30 or 100 min. The results obtained in our experiments show diverse&#13;
effects of KA in 2 different age groups. According to our results, 100 �M/100 min KA treatment increases&#13;
spine motility at early stage of brain development (P10) by 41.5%, while in P30 mice spine motility is&#13;
increased only by 3%. Our findings also indicate that effect of KA on hippocampal dendritic spine motility&#13;
is predominantly time- rather than concentration-dependent.</abstract>
