Ovtscharoff Wladimir, Helmeke Carina, Braun Katharina
Department of Zoology/Developmental Neurobiology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany.
Brain Res. 2006 Oct 20;1116(1):58-63. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.07.106. Epub 2006 Sep 1.
Exposure to enriched or impoverished environmental conditions, experience and learning are factors which influence brain development, and it has been shown that neonatal emotional experience significantly interferes with the synaptic development of higher associative forebrain areas. Here, we analyzed the impact of paternal care, i.e. the father's emotional contribution towards his offspring, on the synaptic development of the anterior cingulate cortex. Our light and electron microscopic comparison of biparentally raised control animals and animals which were raised in single-mother families revealed no significant differences in spine densities on the apical dendrites of layer II/III pyramidal neurons and of asymmetric and symmetric spine synapses. However, significantly reduced densities (-33%) of symmetric shaft synapses were found in layer II of the fatherless animals compared to controls. This finding indicates an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the anterior cingulate cortex of father-deprived animals. Our results query the general assumption that a father has less impact on the synaptic maturation of his offspring's brain than the mother.
暴露于丰富或贫乏的环境条件、经历和学习是影响大脑发育的因素，并且已经表明新生儿的情感经历会显著干扰高级联合前脑区域的突触发育。在此，我们分析了父性关怀，即父亲对其后代的情感投入，对前扣带回皮质突触发育的影响。我们对双亲抚养的对照动物和单母家庭抚养的动物进行了光学显微镜和电子显微镜比较，结果显示，在II/III层锥体神经元顶端树突上的棘密度以及不对称和对称棘突触方面，二者没有显著差异。然而，与对照组相比，在无父动物的II层中发现对称轴突突触的密度显著降低（-33%）。这一发现表明，在缺乏父爱的动物的前扣带回皮质中，兴奋性和抑制性突触之间存在失衡。我们的研究结果对一般假设提出了质疑，即父亲对其后代大脑突触成熟的影响小于母亲。
