Perinatal experience alters brain development and functional recovery after cerebral injury in rats

已经确定的是，出生后早期的经历会导致大鼠大脑和行为组织的持久变化，但这种变化是如何发生的细节仍然知之甚少。此外，针对母体经验在胎儿大脑发育中的作用的研究主要集中在营养不足、产前压力和药物滥用的负面影响上。 我以前的研究着眼于出生前和出生后的环境刺激的潜在效用，以改善大鼠早期皮质损伤后的行为恢复。我已经证明了母体触觉刺激或复杂的住房对以后的伤害有预防作用。 我还证明，皮肤能够产生蛋白质，如碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF或FGF-2，一种已知刺激大脑可塑性的生长因子），以响应触觉刺激，这些蛋白质似乎有助于早期脑损伤的恢复。触觉刺激的幼鼠显示皮层中FGF-2、FGFR 1受体表达增加，而接受触觉刺激的损伤动物也显示其余额叶皮层中bFGF表达上调。 本研究的主要目的是了解以下内容：1）围产期经历如何影响（以母体或出生后触觉刺激、母体复合住房或母体锻炼的形式）影响正常动物的大脑和行为发育; 2）围产期经历如何与早期脑损伤相互作用以促进或抑制功能恢复; 3）早期经验产生的大脑发育变化如何影响后期经验对大脑可塑性的影响; 4）皮肤刺激诱导局部产生在大脑可塑性中发挥作用的生长因子的潜力。

It has been well established that early postnatal experience causes lasting changes in cerebral and behavioral organization in the rat but the details of how this happens are still poorly understood. In addition, studies directed at the role of maternal experience in fetal brain development have focused mainly on the negative effects of inadequate  nutrition, prenatal stress, and drug abuse.  My previous research looked at the potential utility of pre- and postnatal environmental stimulation to improve behavioral recovery after early cortical injury in rats. I have shown maternal tactile stimulation or complex housing has a prophylactic effect on later injury.  I have also demonstrated that the skin is capable of producing proteins like basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2, a growth factor known to stimulate plasticity in brain) in response to tactile stimulation and these proteins appear to facilitate recovery from early-brain injury. Tactilely stimulated pups showed increased expression of the receptor for FGF-2, FGFR1in the cortex and lesion animals that received tactile stimulation also showed an upregulation of bFGF expression in the remaining frontal cortex.  The main goals of the proposed research are to gain an understanding of the following: 1) How perinatal experience (in the form of maternal or postnatal tactile stimulation, maternal complex housing, or maternal exercise) affects brain and behavioral development in normal animals; 2) How perinatal experience interacts with early brain injury to promote or inhibit functional recovery; 3) How changes in brain development produced by early experience influence the impact of later experience on brain plasticity; 4) The potential for skin stimulation to induce local production of growth factors that play a role in brain plasticity.