Pinkernelle Josephine, Abraham Andreas, Seidel Katja, Braun Katharina
Department of Zoology and Developmental Neurobiology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
Dev Neurobiol. 2009 Sep 1;69(10):663-73. doi: 10.1002/dneu.20726.
Similar to maternal care, paternal care is a source of neonatal sensory stimulation, which in primates and rodents has been shown to be essential for developing structure and function of sensory cortices. The aim of our study in the biparental rodent Octodon degus was to assess the impact of paternal deprivation on dendritic and synaptic development in the somatosensory cortex. We (i) quantified the amount of paternal care in relation to total parental investment and (ii) compared dendritic and synaptic development of pyramidal neurons in the somatosensory cortex of animals raised by a single mother or by both parents. On the behavioral level we show that paternal care comprises 37% of total parent-offspring interactions, and that the somatosensory stimulation provided by the fathers primarily consists of huddling, licking/grooming, and playing. On the morphological level we found that, compared with offspring raised by both parents (mother and father), the father-deprived animals displayed significantly reduced spine numbers on the basal dendrites of pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, paternal deprivation induces hemispheric asymmetry of the dendritic morphology of somatosensory pyramidal neurons. Father-deprived animals show shorter and less complex basal dendrites in the left somatosensory cortex compared with the right hemisphere. These findings indicate that paternal deprivation results in delayed or retarded dendritic and synaptic development of somatosensory circuits.
与母性照料相似，父性照料是新生儿感觉刺激的一个来源，在灵长类动物和啮齿动物中，它已被证明对感觉皮层的结构和功能发育至关重要。我们在双亲啮齿动物八齿鼠（Octodon degus）身上开展研究的目的是评估父性剥夺对体感皮层中树突和突触发育的影响。我们（i）量化了父性照料相对于总亲代投入的量，并且（ii）比较了由单亲母亲或双亲抚养的动物体感皮层中锥体神经元的树突和突触发育情况。在行为层面，我们发现父性照料占亲代与子代互动总量的37%，并且父亲提供的体感刺激主要包括蜷缩、舔舐/梳理毛发以及玩耍。在形态学层面，我们发现，与由双亲（母亲和父亲）抚养的后代相比，被剥夺父性的动物在锥体神经元基底树突上的棘突数量显著减少。此外，父性剥夺会诱发体感锥体神经元树突形态的半球不对称性。与右半球相比，被剥夺父性的动物在左侧体感皮层中显示出更短且更简单的基底树突。这些发现表明，父性剥夺会导致体感回路的树突和突触发育延迟或受阻。
