Medical College of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Rehabilitation, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 510006 Guangzhou, China; South China Research Center for Acupuncture-Moxibustion, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 510006 Guangzhou, China; Department of Physiology, University of Saskatchewan, S7N 5E5 Saskatoon, Canada.
Medical College of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Rehabilitation, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 510006 Guangzhou, China; South China Research Center for Acupuncture-Moxibustion, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 510006 Guangzhou, China.
Neurotoxicology. 2017 Sep;62:56-63. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2017.05.008. Epub 2017 May 18.
Developmental exposure to melamine induces long-term effects on brain and behavior in male rodents. To examine whether this prenatal event damages cognitive function in female offspring, we evaluated the behavioral effects and further attempted to investigate synaptic function. Prenatal melamine exposure (PME) was given by oral treatment to pregnant females through the whole gestational days with 400mg/day/kg bodyweight. On postnatal day (PD) 36, female offspring were assessed for spatial cognition in the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test. Simultaneously, the alterations in hippocampal synaptic plasticity in Schaffer collaterals-CA1 pathway in vivo were measured. The results of behavioral test showed that PME lead serious deficits of memory and re-acquisition abilities. PME depressed depotentiation in the hippocampal CA1 area of the PME group, but no alteration in LTP. Furthermore, variations of post-tetanic potentiation (PTP) and paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) were also observed in this pathway. This finding indicated that the PME affected spatial cognition in adolescent females, and the impairment of hippocampal synaptic functions may partly play a significant role in these effects.
三聚氰胺发育暴露诱导雄性啮齿动物的长期脑和行为效应。为了研究这一产前事件是否损害雌性后代的认知功能，我们评估了行为效应，并进一步试图研究突触功能。通过口服方式在整个妊娠期以 400mg/day/kg 体重向怀孕母体给予三聚氰胺暴露（PME）。在产后第 36 天，通过 Morris 水迷宫（MWM）测试评估雌性后代的空间认知能力。同时，在体内测量 Schaffer 侧支-CA1 通路中海马突触可塑性的变化。行为测试结果表明，PME 导致严重的记忆和重新获得能力缺陷。PME 抑制了 PME 组海马 CA1 区的去极化，而 LTP 没有改变。此外，在该通路中还观察到后强直增强（PTP）和成对脉冲易化（PPF）的变化。这一发现表明，PME 影响了青春期雌性的空间认知，海马突触功能的损害可能在这些效应中起重要作用。
