The Influence of Parental Experience On Brain Development, Behaviour, and Neuroplasticity

行为神经科学中的一个基本问题与大脑如何发育，在成年后产生复杂的运动、社交和认知能力有关。现在很清楚，大脑的发展并不遵循一个蓝图，而是新生的大脑是由先入为主的、产前和后天的经历塑造出来的，以产生一个可以做奇妙事情的大脑。但并不是所有的大脑都是一样的，存在着显著的差异，从辉煌到不太理想的结果。在证明了不同时间的积极和消极经历都会影响大脑和行为发育之后，我建议系统地研究这些经历在几个发育时间点的影响，包括先入为主(父母亲)、怀孕(母亲)、围产期和青春期。*短期目标：*1.在怀孕前和产前期间暴露于父母(母方或父方)经历的后代的终生行为结果的特征。*2.在怀孕前和产前暴露于父母(母系或父系)经历的后代的神经解剖学结果的特征。*3.父母(母系或父系)在孕前和孕期经历后对后代大脑和父母生殖系(精子和卵子)的表观遗传学分析。*长期目标：1.研究父母经历与后来的后代经历在围产期或青春期的相互作用。*2.研究母系和父系经验在交配或怀孕期间如何相互作用，以影响后代的大脑发育。*3.为了确定父亲或母亲经历的负面行为和解剖学影响，如酒精暴露，是否可以通过膳食补充剂逆转，触觉刺激，或暴露在接触中的父母的复合体，或者早期积极经历的影响是否可以被负面经历(压力、药物)逆转。*拟议研究的总体目标是了解描述大脑可塑性及其与发育过程中行为的关系的“规则”。人们对产前知之甚少，包括对大脑发育的先入为主的经历。因此，我们的贡献解决了父亲先入为主的经验以及“积极的”和“消极的”产前(先孕和妊娠)经验对后代结局的影响这一鲜有研究的领域。通过使用从发育期到成年期的行为分析，我们对产前或怀孕前的相同经历如何改变了对后代大脑发育的影响做出了新的见解，并观察了发育过程中不同时间的行为结果。我们试图更好地了解大脑发育的本质，以及经验如何相互作用来促进神经可塑性和行为。**

One of the fundamental questions in behavioural neuroscience relates to how the brain develops to produce our complex motor, social, and cognitive abilities in adulthood. It is now clear that brain development does not follow a blueprint but rather the nascent brain is sculpted by preconception, prenatal, and postnatal experiences to produce a brain that can do marvelous things. But not all brains are the same and there is remarkable variability ranging from brilliance to less than optimal outcomes.Having demonstrated that both positive and negative experiences at different times can influence brain and behavioral development, I propose to systematically examine the effects of such experiences at several developmental time points including preconception (both sires and dams), gestational (dams), perinatal, and adolescence. ***Short term objectives: ***1. Characterization of the lifelong behavioral outcomes of offspring exposed to parental (maternal or paternal) experiences in the preconception and prenatal periods. .***2. Characterization of neuroanatomical outcomes of offspring exposed to parental (maternal or paternal) experiences in the preconception and prenatal periods.***3. Epigenetic analyses of offspring brain and parental germlines (sperm and ova) following parental (maternal or paternal) experiences in the preconception and prenatal periods.***Long Term Objectives: 1. To study the interaction of parental experience with later offspring experience either in the perinatal period or in adolescence.***2. To study how maternal and paternal experiences interact at mating or during gestation to affect brain development in offspring.***3. To determine whether the negative behavioral and anatomical effects of paternal or maternal experiences such as alcohol exposure can be reversed with dietary supplements, tactile stimulation, or complex-housing in the exposed parent or whether the effects of early positive experiences can be reversed by negative experiences (stress, drugs). ***The overall goal of the proposed studies is to understand the “rules” that describe cerebral plasticity and its relation to behavior in development. Little is known about prenatal, including preconception experiences on brain development. Thus, our contributions have addressed the sparsely studied domains of paternal preconception experience and influence of both “positive” and “negative” prenatal (preconception and gestational) experience on offspring outcomes. By using behavioral analyses that span the developmental period to adulthood we have made new insights into how the same experience in either the prenatal or preconception period have altered impacts on offspring brain development and observed behavioral outcomes at different times during development. We seek to better understand the nature of brain development and how experiences interact to contribute to neuroplasticity and behavior. **