RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Developmental Changes in Dendritic Spine Morphology in the Striatum and Their Alteration in an A53T α-Synuclein Transgenic Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease JF eneuro JO eNeuro FD Society for Neuroscience SP ENEURO.0072-20.2020 DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0072-20.2020 VO 7 IS 4 A1 Parajuli, Laxmi Kumar A1 Wako, Ken A1 Maruo, Suiki A1 Kakuta, Soichiro A1 Taguchi, Tomoyuki A1 Ikuno, Masashi A1 Yamakado, Hodaka A1 Takahashi, Ryosuke A1 Koike, Masato YR 2020 UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/7/4/ENEURO.0072-20.2020.abstract AB The aging process is accompanied by various neurophysiological changes, and the severity of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) increases with aging. However, the precise neuroanatomical changes that accompany the aging process in both normal and pathologic conditions remain unknown. This is in part because there is a lack of high-resolution imaging tool that has the capacity to image a desired volume of neurons in a high-throughput and automated manner. In the present study, focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) was used to image striatal neuropil in both wild-type (WT) mice and an A53T bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) human α-synuclein (A53T-BAC-SNCA) transgenic (Tg) mouse model of PD, at 1, 3, 6, and 22 months of age. We demonstrated that spine density gradually decreases, and average spine head volume gradually increases with age in WT mice, suggesting a homeostatic balance between spine head volume and spine density. However, this inverse relationship between spine head volume and spine density was not observed in A53T-BAC-SNCA Tg mice. Taken together, our data suggest that PD is accompanied by an abnormality in the mechanisms that control synapse growth and maturity.