Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center for Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Neuropharmacology. 2012 Jan;62(1):534-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2011.09.022. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
Maternal deprivation at postnatal day 3 was reported to enhance fear learning in a sex specific manner. Since the amygdala is critically involved in fear conditioning we examined here whether maternal deprivation regulates dendritic complexity in this area.
To assess whether maternal deprivation regulates dendritic complexity in the basolateral amygdala of male and female rats.
Using the Golgi-impregnation method, we studied whether 24 h of maternal deprivation on postnatal day 3 alters dendritic complexity of pyramidal and stellate cells in the basolateral amygdala of adult male and female rats.
Maternal deprivation did not affect the total branch length, number of branch points and primary dendrites or dendritic complexity index in male and female offspring.
Although a brief period of maternal deprivation increases fear conditioned responses, it did not affect dendritic complexity in the basolateral amygdala. This suggests that other cellular substrates for learning and memory, e.g. at synaptic or cellular level, underlie the enhanced expression of fear memories after exposure to early life stress. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Anxiety and Depression'.
产后第 3 天的母婴分离被报道以性别特异性的方式增强了恐惧学习。由于杏仁核在恐惧条件反射中起着至关重要的作用，我们在这里研究了母婴分离是否调节了该区域的树突复杂性。
评估母婴分离是否调节了雄性和雌性大鼠基底外侧杏仁核中的树突复杂性。
使用 Golgi 浸渍法，我们研究了产后第 3 天的 24 小时母婴分离是否改变了成年雄性和雌性大鼠基底外侧杏仁核中锥体和星型细胞的树突复杂性。
母婴分离对雄性和雌性后代的总分支长度、分支点数量和初级树突以及树突复杂性指数均无影响。
尽管短暂的母婴分离增加了恐惧条件反应，但它并没有影响基底外侧杏仁核中的树突复杂性。这表明，其他学习和记忆的细胞基质，例如突触或细胞水平，是在早期生活应激后增强恐惧记忆表达的基础。本文是一个题为“焦虑和抑郁”的特刊的一部分。
