Department of Psychology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2010 Dec 6;214(1):66-74. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.05.048. Epub 2010 Jun 4.
Recent findings from our laboratory indicate that alterations in frontal cortex function, structural plasticity, and related social behaviors are persistent consequences of exposure to moderate levels of ethanol during prenatal brain development [24]. Fetal-ethanol-related reductions in the expression of the immediate early genes (IEGs) c-fos and Arc and alterations in dendritic spine density in ventrolateral and medial aspects of frontal cortex suggest a dissociation reminiscent of that described by Kolb et al. [38] in which these aspects of frontal cortex undergo reciprocal experience-dependent changes. In addition to providing a brief review of the available data on social behavior and frontal cortex function in fetal-ethanol-exposed rats, the present paper presents novel data on social-experience-related IEG expression in four regions of frontal cortex (Zilles LO, VLO, Fr1, Fr2) that are evaluated alongside our prior data from AID and Cg3. Social experience in normal rats was related to a distinct pattern of IEG expression in ventrolateral and medial aspects of frontal cortex, with generally greater expression observed in ventrolateral frontal cortex. In contrast, weaker expression was observed in all aspects of frontal cortex in ethanol-exposed rats, with the exception of an experience-related increase in the medial agranular cortex. Behaviors related to social investigation and wrestling/boxing were differentially correlated with patterns of activity-related IEG expression in the regions under investigation for saccharin- and ethanol-exposed rats. These observations suggest that recruitment and expression of IEGs in frontal cortex following social experience are potentially important for understanding the long-term consequences of moderate prenatal ethanol exposure on frontal cortex function, synaptic plasticity, and related behaviors.
最近我们实验室的研究结果表明，在产前大脑发育过程中暴露于中等水平的乙醇会导致额叶皮层功能、结构可塑性和相关社会行为的持续改变[24]。胎儿乙醇相关的即刻早期基因（IEGs）c-fos 和 Arc 的表达减少，以及腹外侧和内侧额叶皮层树突棘密度的改变，提示存在类似于 Kolb 等人所描述的分离[38]，其中额叶皮层的这些方面经历了相互的经验依赖性变化。除了简要回顾胎儿乙醇暴露大鼠的社会行为和额叶皮层功能的现有数据外，本文还提供了关于四个额叶皮层区域（Zilles LO、VLO、Fr1、Fr2）的社会经验相关 IEG 表达的新数据，这些数据与我们之前在 AID 和 Cg3 中的数据一起进行了评估。正常大鼠的社会经验与额叶皮层腹外侧和内侧区域的特定 IEG 表达模式有关，通常观察到腹外侧额叶皮层的表达更大。相比之下，在乙醇暴露的大鼠中，除了内侧颗粒状皮质的经验相关增加外，所有额叶皮层区域的表达都较弱。与社会调查和摔跤/拳击相关的行为与蔗糖和乙醇暴露大鼠研究区域中与活动相关的 IEG 表达模式呈不同相关性。这些观察结果表明，额叶皮层中 IEG 的募集和表达可能是理解中度产前乙醇暴露对额叶皮层功能、突触可塑性和相关行为的长期影响的重要因素。
