SILS-CNS, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Neuroendocrinol. 2012 Feb;24(2):331-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2826.2011.02233.x.
Maternal care is an important environmental factor for rats early in life. Adult offspring from dams exhibiting extremely high versus low maternal care differ remarkably in dendritic complexity and long-term synaptic potentiation in the CA1 area. However, >70% of the pups do not belong to these extreme categories of maternal care, questioning the general relevance of these observations. Therefore, the present study investigated whether the influence of maternal care is discernable over its entire range and can serve as an index predicting later CA1 structure and function. The amount of licking and grooming (%LG) received was determined for each pup during the first postnatal week. In males, both total apical branch length and dendritic complexity correlated significantly and positively with %LG. In females, we observed a nonsignificant negative correlation, also when controlled for variations in oestradiol and progesterone levels. The correlation in females was significantly different from that in males. No significant correlation was observed between the %LG and the amount of synaptic potentiation, either in male or in female offspring, regardless of whether slices had been treated with corticosterone or vehicle. However, in male rats, the degree of potentiation seen after corticosterone compared to vehicle treatment was almost significantly related to the %LG received early in life; this differed significantly from that observed in females. The data from the present study suggest that %LG received early in life results in mild, yet sex-dependent effects on adult CA1 structure and function.
母体照顾是大鼠生命早期的一个重要环境因素。表现出极高与极低母体照顾的成年后代在 CA1 区的树突复杂性和长期突触增强方面有显著差异。然而，超过 70%的幼崽不属于这些母体照顾的极端类别，这质疑了这些观察结果的普遍相关性。因此，本研究调查了母体照顾的影响是否在其整个范围内是可辨别的，并可以作为预测后期 CA1 结构和功能的指标。在出生后的第一周内，确定了每只幼崽接受的舔舐和梳理的百分比（%LG）。在雄性中，总顶枝长度和树突复杂性与%LG 呈显著正相关。在雌性中，我们观察到一种非显著的负相关，即使在控制雌激素和孕激素水平变化的情况下也是如此。这种相关性在雌性中与雄性显著不同。无论是否用皮质酮或载体处理切片，在雄性或雌性后代中，%LG 与突触增强的量之间均未观察到显著相关性。然而，在雄性大鼠中，与载体处理相比，皮质酮处理后观察到的增强程度与生命早期接受的%LG 几乎显著相关；这与在雌性中观察到的情况明显不同。本研究的数据表明，生命早期接受的%LG 导致成年 CA1 结构和功能产生轻微但具有性别依赖性的影响。
