Mohammed A K, Winblad B, Ebendal T, Lärkfors L
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden.
Brain Res. 1990 Sep 24;528(1):62-72. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(90)90195-h.
The influence of the environment on the endogenous levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the cortex, hippocampus and septum was examined in adult (82 days old) and juvenile (51 days old) rats. Animals were reared/housed for 30 days in an enriched, standard or isolated environment prior to analysis. In addition, another group of rats were given behavioural tests (4 days) after differential rearing/housing before measurements of NGF. We found complex variations in the level of NGF both in juvenile and adult hippocampus after differential environmental rearing/housing. Rearing/housing in an enriched environment improved performance in the Morris maze and decreased spontaneous motor activity. Exposure to behavioural tests caused alterations in adult hippocampus and septum NGF levels. The results show that testing in a novel environment causes small but significant changes in the hippocampal and septal NGF levels depending upon the environmental history of the animal. In view of the purported involvement of the septohippocampal pathway and NGF in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease, our finding suggests that lack of adequate environmental stimulation might be of importance in age-related behavioural and neurochemical deficits.
研究了环境对成年（82日龄）和幼年（51日龄）大鼠大脑皮层、海马体和隔膜中神经生长因子（NGF）内源性水平的影响。在分析之前，将动物分别置于丰富环境、标准环境或隔离环境中饲养30天。此外，另一组大鼠在不同环境饲养30天后进行行为测试（4天），然后测量NGF。我们发现，不同环境饲养后，幼年和成年海马体中NGF水平出现复杂变化。在丰富环境中饲养可改善大鼠在莫里斯迷宫中的表现，并减少自发运动活动。进行行为测试会导致成年大鼠海马体和隔膜中NGF水平发生改变。结果表明，在新环境中进行测试会使海马体和隔膜中NGF水平发生微小但显著的变化，这取决于动物的环境经历。鉴于海马体-隔膜通路和NGF据称参与了阿尔茨海默病的病理生理过程，我们的研究结果表明，缺乏足够的环境刺激可能与年龄相关的行为和神经化学缺陷有关。
