Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3559 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Jul 15;233(1):79-89. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.04.048. Epub 2012 May 6.
Changes in neuron morphology, stemming from experiences in early life or adulthood, may be the basis for changes in behavior and their underlying functional mechanisms. For example, reproductive experience has been shown to significantly alter neuron morphology in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. In contrast to the effects of reproductive experience, a form of enrichment, on neuron morphology, our understanding of the effects of early social isolation on adult neuron morphology is limited. Therefore, the present study examined changes in neuron morphology in the dorsal (caudate nucleus) and ventral (nucleus accumbens, shell region) striatum and the medial preoptic area of adult virgin and postpartum females exposed to either artificial or maternal rearing during development. Primary results show that regardless of early social isolation, neurons in the caudate nucleus of postpartum females have decreased dendritic complexity compared to virgin females. Maternal experience also increased dendritic complexity in neurons of the nucleus accumbens shell. However, both early social isolation and maternal experience in adulthood influenced dendritic complexity in the medial preoptic area. Together these findings suggest that hypothalamic and striatal neurons show experience-dependent dendritic plasticity and the type and timing of these experiences differentially affect the location and degree of these morphological changes.
神经元形态的变化，源于早期生活或成年期的经历，可能是行为变化及其潜在功能机制的基础。例如，生殖经验已被证明会显著改变海马体和前额叶皮层中的神经元形态。与生殖经验（一种丰饶形式）对神经元形态的影响相反，我们对早期社会隔离对成年神经元形态的影响的理解是有限的。因此，本研究检查了暴露于人工或母性饲养的成年处女和产后雌性的背侧（尾状核）和腹侧（伏隔核，壳区）纹状体以及内侧视前区的神经元形态变化。主要结果表明，无论早期是否存在社会隔离，产后雌性的尾状核神经元的树突复杂性都比处女雌性降低。母体经验也增加了伏隔核壳区神经元的树突复杂性。然而，早期的社会隔离和成年期的母体经验都影响了内侧视前区的树突复杂性。这些发现表明，下丘脑和纹状体神经元表现出经验依赖性的树突可塑性，这些经验的类型和时间会不同地影响这些形态变化的位置和程度。
