ARNDS--CORTICAL PLASTICITY AND LEARNING

这个项目和IRP资助的其他四个项目的长期目标是了解突触可塑性的神经化学和神经心理学机制，这些机制受到产前酒精暴露的影响，以及它们与成年后认知/学习缺陷的关系。 甚至在生命开始之前，数十万美国人就因母亲饮酒而受到永久性的酒精影响。 即使是中等水平的酒精暴露的不利影响中，最突出的是认知/学习缺陷。 本项目的具体目标是在成年大鼠中通过实验评估胎儿酒精暴露对以下方面的影响：1。在自由移动大鼠中，对学习和记忆重要的大脑皮层的两个区域中的持久突触增强（LTP），2.参与认知和学习的大脑皮层区域中的重要抑制性突触，以及3.学习和保留的措施，在具有挑战性的行为任务链接到LTP由以前的工作。 这些实验的结果，连同那些在这个IRP资助包，将提供一个更深入的了解机制，产前酒精暴露可以破坏神经化学和生理机制的突触可塑性，认知/学习的基础。 这些信息可以显示预防终身认知和行为障碍的方法。

The long-term objectives of this project and the other four projects in the IRP grant are to understand the neurochemical and neuropsychological mechanisms of synaptic plasticity which are affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and their relationship to cognitive/learning deficits in adulthood. Even before life begins, hundreds of thousands of Americans are affected permanently by exposure to alcohol through maternal drinking. Prominent among the adverse effects of exposure to even moderate levels of alcohol is cognitive/learning deficits. The specific aims of this project are to evaluate experimentally in adult rats the effects of fetal alcohol exposure on: 1. long-lasting synaptic enhancement (LTP) in two areas of cerebral cortex important for learning and memory in freely-moving rats, 2. important inhibitory synapses in areas of cerebral cortex involved in cognition and learning, and 3. measures of learning and retention in challenging behavioral tasks linked to LTP by prior work. The results of these experiments, together with those in this IRP grant package, will provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which prenatal alcohol exposure can disrupt the neurochemical and physiological mechanisms of synaptic plasticity that underlie cognition/learning. Such information can show the way to preventing life-long cognitive and behavioral handicaps.