Effect of social environment on memory, hippocampal structure and neurogenesis

社会环境对记忆、海马结构和神经发生的影响

• 批准号: 7348294
• 负责人: VLADIMIR V PRAVOSUDOV
• 金额: $ 18.93万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-02-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7348294
• 关键词: Adult; Affect; Age; Animal Model; Animals; Attention; Behavior; Birds; Brain; Bromodeoxyuridine; Cell Proliferation; Complex; Condition; Count; Disease; Environment; Female; Food; Hand; Hippocampal Formation; Hippocampus (Brain); Histone H3; Human; Individual; Laboratories; Laboratory Animals; Life; Location; Longevity; Maintenance; Mediating; Memory; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Mitosis; Modeling; Neurologic; Neurons; Performance; Personal Satisfaction; Physical environment; Plastics; Play; Randomized; Rate; Recovery; Regulation; Reporting; Research; Role; Seasonal Variations; Social Environment; Social Interaction; Social isolation; Structure; System; Testing; base; cognitive function; day; experience; male; neurogenesis; neuromechanism; relating to nervous system; research study; sex; social; social group

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Environmental conditions could be critical for maintaining mental health including memory and its neural mechanisms. Whereas much attention has been devoted to the effects of enriched physical environment on memory and the hippocampus, the effects of social environment remain poorly investigated. Many animal species including humans are highly social and complex social interactions are an integral part of their natural environment. To understand maintenance of healthy memory and neurological consequences of social disorders, it is it crucial to investigate how social environment might influence memory and the brain. The proposed study will investigate the relationship between social environment, memory, hippocampal structure and neurogenesis using a food-caching bird, mountain chickadee, as a model. Hippocampus, which is involved in memory function, is well known for its plasticity and there is growing evidence that new neurons are generated in the hippocampus throughout adult life span. The proposed study will specifically investigate whether naturally rich social environment is required for maintaining healthy memory and the brain and whether social isolation results in impaired memory, fewer hippocampal neurons and reduced neurogenesis rates including both cell proliferation and neuron survival. Fully grown birds of the same age will be randomly assigned to five different social environments: solitary, unisex male pairs, unisex female pairs, male-female pairs and groups including two male-female pairs. Adult humans and chickadees naturally exist in large groups consisting of male-female pairs - thus the last experimental group will represent the most natural social environment. All birds will be maintained in cages providing equal space per bird for all groups. All birds will be maintained in their assigned social environment for 90 days during which they will be regularly tested in various memory tasks. At the end of the experiment all birds will be sacrificed for the analyses of the hippocampus structure (volume, neuron count) and neurogenesis (using BrdU and Phospho-histone H3 Mitosis markers). This study will provide important information on the effects of social environment on memory and the hippocampus which, in turn, might help better understand consequences of social disorders for mental health and the brain.

描述（由申请人提供）：环境条件对于维持心理健康（包括记忆及其神经机制）可能至关重要。尽管人们对丰富的物理环境对记忆和海马体的影响给予了很多关注，但对社会环境的影响的研究仍然很少。包括人类在内的许多动物物种都具有高度社会性，复杂的社会互动是其自然环境不可分割的一部分。为了了解健康记忆的维持和社会障碍的神经学后果，研究社会环境如何影响记忆和大脑至关重要。拟议的研究将以储存食物的鸟类山雀为模型，研究社会环境、记忆、海马结构和神经发生之间的关系。海马体参与记忆功能，以其可塑性而闻名，越来越多的证据表明，在成人的整个生命周期中，海马体都会产生新的神经元。拟议的研究将专门调查维持健康记忆和大脑是否需要自然丰富的社会环境，以及社会隔离是否会导致记忆受损、海马神经元减少和神经发生率降低（包括细胞增殖和神经元存活）。相同年龄的成年鸟类将被随机分配到五种不同的社会环境中：单独的、男女通用的雄性对、男女通用的雌性对、雄性-雌性对以及包括两对雄性-雌性的群体。成年人和山雀自然存在于由雄性和雌性组成的大群体中，因此最后一个实验组将代表最自然的社会环境。所有鸟类都将被饲养在笼子中，为所有群体的每只鸟类提供平等的空间。所有鸟类都将在指定的社交环境中维持 90 天，在此期间，它们将定期接受各种记忆任务测试。实验结束时，将处死所有鸟类以分析海马结构（体积、神经元计数）和神经发生（使用 BrdU 和磷酸组蛋白 H3 有丝分裂标记）。这项研究将提供有关社会环境对记忆和海马体影响的重要信息，这反过来可能有助于更好地了解社会障碍对心理健康和大脑的影响。