Fetal Alcohol Exposure and Sensorimotor Cortex Function

描述（由申请人提供）：母亲在怀孕期间摄入大量酒精的儿童表现出发育迟缓，语言和学习缺陷，视觉空间和感觉运动能力受损，包括平衡能力差和粗/细运动协调。这一系列的缺陷强调了胎儿酒精暴露（FAE）中枢神经系统（CNS）处理的破坏。在人类中，这种CNS残疾对生活质量产生负面影响。我们对FAE对CNS加工的影响的不完全理解限制了我们改善这些缺陷的能力。通过使用一个模型系统和技术，我们是专家，我们将阐明FAE在感觉运动系统和测试潜在的机制所造成的具体中断。通过了解与感觉运动功能相关的酒精相关神经异常的生物学基础，我们有望实现FAE受损儿童康复的改进训练策略。 我们将测试这一假设，即FAE改变了体感皮层和运动皮层的组织和这些区域之间的信息传递途径。我们将研究FAE后感觉运动缺陷的潜在机制。成年大鼠的感觉运动系统将作为我们的模型系统。我们将研究中枢神经系统的处理，使用良好的特点前爪桶子域（FBS）在躯体感觉皮层与代表性的前爪的躯体感觉调查，前肢代表性的运动皮层和输出通路的运动调查，和前肢感觉和运动皮层之间的通路的感觉运动整合研究。我们以前研究了新生和成年大鼠的体感皮层和小鼠运动皮层的功能组织，为拟议的研究提供了基础。该提案结合了我们实验室常规使用的结构和功能映射，体内细胞内记录和标记，微刺激，解剖追踪，免疫细胞化学和电子显微镜技术。特定目的将比较FAE大鼠与配对喂养、饲料喂养和交叉饲养的对照大鼠。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children of mothers who consume significant amounts of alcohol during pregnancy exhibit delayed development, deficits in language and learning, and impaired visuospatial and sensorimotor abilities, including poor balance and gross/fine motor coordination. This range of deficits underscores a disruption of central nervous system (CNS) processing in fetal alcohol exposure (FAE). In humans, such CNS disabilities negatively impact quality of life. Our incomplete understanding of the effects of FAE on CNS processing limits our ability to ameliorate these deficits. By using a model system and techniques in which we are expert, we will elucidate the specific disruptions caused by FAE in sensorimotor systems and test potential mechanisms. By understanding the biological bases of alcohol-related neurological abnormalities related to sensorimotor functions, we can hope to achieve improved training strategies for rehabilitation in FAE-impaired children. We will test the hypothesis that FAE alters the organization of somatosensory cortex and motor cortex and the pathway for the transfer of information between these regions. We will examine potential mechanisms for sensorimotor deficits following FAE. The sensorimotor system in adult rats will serve as our model system. We will study CNS processing using the well-characterized forepaw barrel subfield (FBS) in somatosensory cortex associated with the representation of the forepaw for somatosensory investigations, the forelimb representation in motor cortex and the output pathway for motor investigations, and the pathway between forelimb sensory and motor cortices for sensorimotor integration studies. We have previously studied somatosensory cortex in newborn and adult rats and the functional organization of mouse motor cortex that provide foundations for the proposed studies. The proposal incorporates techniques for structural and functional mapping, in-vivo intracellular recording and labeling, microstimulation, anatomical tracing, immunocytochemistry, and electron microscopy that are routinely used in our laboratories. Specific Aims will compare FAE rats with pair-fed, chow-fed, and cross-fostered control rats.