The morphology of dendritic arbors determines the location, strength and interaction of synaptic inputs. It is therefore important to understand the factors regulating dendritic arborization both during development and in situations of physiological or pathological plasticity. We have recently shown that VEGF-D (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor D) is required to maintain length and complexity of basal dendrites in mouse hippocampal pyramidal cells. Lack of VEGF-D resulted in long-term memory deficits, suggesting a link between dendritic morphology and cognitive function. Here, we compared the effect of VEGF-D expression on basal versus apical dendrites of CA1 pyramidal cells, as well as its importance for synaptic processing of network oscillations. We report opposing, layer-specific effects of VEGF-D knockdown which resulted in shrinkage of basal and increased complexity of apical dendrites. Synaptic potentials and layer-specific voltage gradients during network oscillations remained, however, unaltered. These findings reveal a high spatial selectivity of VEGF-D effects at the sub-cellular level, and strong homeostatic mechanisms which keep spatially segregated synaptic inputs in a balance.

树突状乔木的形态决定了突触输入的位置、强度和相互作用。因此，重要的是要了解在发育过程中以及在生理或病理可塑性情况下调节树枝状树枝状结构的因素。我们最近表明，需要 VEGF-D（血管内皮生长因子 D）来维持小鼠海马锥体细胞中基底树突的长度和复杂性。缺乏 VEGF-D 会导致长期记忆缺陷，这表明树突形态与认知功能之间存在联系。在这里，我们比较了 VEGF-D 表达对 CA1 锥体细胞基底和顶端树突的影响，以及它对网络振荡突触处理的重要性。我们报告反对，VEGF-D 敲低的层特异性效应导致基底收缩和顶端树突的复杂性增加。然而，网络振荡期间的突触电位和特定层的电压梯度保持不变。这些发现揭示了 VEGF-D 效应在亚细胞水平上的高空间选择性，以及使空间分离的突触输入保持平衡的强大稳态机制。