Collaborative Research: Cortical Perineuronal Net Regulation of Maternal Caregiving Behaviors

合作研究：母亲护理行为的皮质神经周围网络调节

• 批准号: 2336906
• 负责人: Joseph Lonstein
• 金额: $ 74.2万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-07-01 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336906&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Cortical; Perineuronal; Net

Positive social interactions often include highly rewarding touch among individuals. How individuals perceive social touch depends on many factors, including their reproductive state. One important example of this influence of reproductive state is that postpartum mothers find touch cues from infants extremely positive, which is essential for highly sensitive maternal caregiving and offspring development. There is very little scientific knowledge about how the maternal brain changes across pregnancy and early postpartum to promote the positive perception of infant touch. This project will study how specific areas of the cerebral cortex that receive touch-related information become more sensitive to infant touch cues as pregnancy progresses and as mothers gain early caregiving experience. This project will also broaden educational opportunities and scientific outreach through new student education courses, new research experiences for students, public zoo and museum exhibits, and by mentoring the next generation of brain scientists from underrepresented groups. The scientific approach and techniques used in these studies will be taught to students from a range of ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds, with the goal of attracting them to this field and increasing diversity in the biological and behavioral sciences. The experiments in this project will investigate the neural basis of maternal positive receptivity to offspring touch, with a focus on the role of cortical perineuronal nets (PNNs). Female reproduction and the onset of motherhood involve widespread neuroplasticity that underlies this critical social interaction. Importantly, this neuroplasticity occurs in cortical sites involved in processing touch, including the primary somatosensory cortex (S1; mediates tactile discrimination) and the insular cortex (IC; processes affective components of touch). Cortical plasticity is regulated by perineuronal nets (PNNs), extracellular matrix structures surrounding the somata and proximal dendrites of parvalbumin+ GABAergic interneurons. PNNs are physical and molecular barriers to synaptic plasticity and expression of these “master regulators” of plasticity changes across times of significant sensory and behavioral flux. Recent experiments reported impaired maternal behavior associated with PNN overexpression in the rat S1 facial microvibrissae area. The current project tests the overarching hypothesis that female reproduction involves changes in PNN expression in S1 and IC, and that these changes alter cortical function critical for tactile regulation of maternal caregiving. This hypothesis will be tested in female rats by: (1) using histochemistry and rt-qPCR to determine changes in PNNs and associated mRNAs in S1 and IC across natural female reproduction, in response to exogenous steroid hormones mimicking pregnancy, and in response to repeated pup exposure and (2) using viral and chemical strategies to determine the effects of PNN underexpression or overexpression in the S1 or IC on maternal caregiving behaviors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

积极的社交互动通常包括个人之间的高度收获。个人如何看待社会触觉取决于许多因素，包括其生殖状态。生殖状态的这种影响的一个重要例子是，产后母亲发现婴儿的触摸提示极为积极，这对于高度敏感的材料护理和后代发展至关重要。关于在怀孕和产后早期如何变化以促进对婴儿触摸的积极看法的科学知识很少。该项目将研究接受触摸相关信息的大脑皮层的特定区域如何随着怀孕的进展而对婴儿触摸提示变得更加敏感，并且随着母亲获得早期的照顾经验。该项目还将通过新的学生教育课程，为学生提供新的研究经验，公共动物园和博物馆展览，以及通过代表性不足的群体的下一代脑科学家进行心理，来扩大教育机会和科学宣传。这些研究中使用的科学方法和技术将被教授给来自一系列种族，社会和经济背景的学生，其目的是吸引他们进入该领域并增加生物学和行为科学的多样性。该项目中的实验将研究母体对后代触摸的阳性接受度的神经基础，重点是皮质会周神经元网（PNNS）的作用。女性繁殖和母性发作涉及宽度神经可塑性，这是这种关键社会互动的基础。重要的是，这种神经可塑性发生在与加工触摸有关的皮质位点中，包括主要体感皮质（S1；介导触觉歧视）和岛状皮质（IC；触摸的情感成分）。皮质可塑性受生周神经元网（PNN），围绕somata的细胞外基质结构和parvalbumin+ gabaergic inersnerrons的近端树突调节。 PNNS是合成可塑性的物理和分子障碍，以及这些可塑性变化的“主要调节剂”的表达，这些变化是在显着的感觉和行为通量的时期。最近的实验报告了与大鼠S1面部微纤维裂面积PNN过表达相关的MATER行为受损。当前的项目检验了总体假设，即女性繁殖涉及S1和IC中PNN表达的变化，并且这些变化改变了皮质功能对孕产妇护理的触觉调节至关重要。 This hypothesis will be tested in female rats by: (1) using histochemistry and rt-qPCR to determine changes in PNNs and associated mRNAs in S1 and IC across natural female reproduction, in response to exogenous steroid horrmones mimicking pregnancy, and in response to repeated pup exposure and (2) using viral and chemical strategies to determine the effects of PNN underexpression or overexpression in the S1 or IC on孕产妇的护理行为。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估，被认为是珍贵的支持。