[The dendritic spines of the pyramidal neurons in layer V of the rat sensorimotor cortex following a 14-day space flight].

There was made a quantitative study of the influence of 14 days space flight ("Kosmos-2044") on dendritic spine (DS) density of the layer V pyramidal neurons of rat sensomotor cortex. There was found an increase of the number of apical DS lying in the layers III-IV in the flight group only. Number of DS on oblique dendrites was increased in the III-IV cortical layers both in the flight and tail-suspended rats. There was also an increase in the number of DS on basal dendrites in all experimental groups. Obtained data are compared with similar 7 days flight results ("Kosmos-1667") and other data of nervous tissue plasticity in weightlessness.