Modulation of neuroplasticity and behaviour through parental experience

通过父母经验调节神经可塑性和行为

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04824
• 负责人: DuarteGuterman, Paula
• 金额: $ 2.77万
• 依托单位: Brock University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=764000
• 关键词: Modulation; neuroplasticity; behaviour; through; parental

Experience shapes the development and continued remodelling of neural circuits known as plasticity, which in turn gives rise to behavioural and cognitive variation. The cumulative experiences of parenthood, including pregnancy and the provision of parental care, are among the most important social experiences in an animal's life history. The importance of parental experience on parental brain physiology is less well-known than its role in offspring development and survival. However, changes in the brain with parenthood can impact a range of behaviours for the rest of the animal's life, including learning and memory and the regulation of stress and anxiety. All these behaviours involve the hippocampus, a highly plastic brain region that is altered through parental experience and by physiological status, such as hormonal changes that accompany the transition to parenthood. My past research in rats, a monoparental mammal in which the mother solely cares for the offspring, demonstrated that maternal experience remodels the hippocampus in the short-term and with aging. By necessity, the rarer studies on paternal experience have been performed on biparental species, but while studying fatherhood these studies typically neglect motherhood. Nonetheless, parental experience includes not only the interactions between each parent and their offspring, but between the care partners as well. We currently have a weak understanding of the extent of hippocampal remodelling with parental experience in females and males of the same species and its impact on behaviour. My proposed research program seeks to address this fundamental gap in our knowledge through a unified approach in degus, a biparental and long-lived rodent. I will first examine hippocampal remodelling and behaviour with parental experience and aging and the underlying hormonal mechanisms. I will then manipulate brain remodelling and hormonal pathways to directly link changes in plasticity with behaviour. Parenthood is a crucial experience in many animals, yet surprisingly little is known about the impact of this unique experience on the brain and with aging. The knowledge gained from this research will help us understand why parenthood remodels the brain in females and males in the short-term and with aging and its implications for behaviour. Trainees in this research program will be part of a dynamic and inclusive research environment and be encouraged to present at conferences and publish their results in scientific journals. Students will leave the lab with a range of skills in animal behaviour, neuroscience, physiology, and cellular and molecular biology, which are highly sought after in academia and transferable to the Canadian biomedical and health industries and to government laboratories.

经验塑造了称为可塑性的神经回路的发展并持续重塑，从而导致行为和认知差异。育儿的累积经历，包括怀孕和提供父母护理，是动物人生历史上最重要的社会经历之一。父母经验对父母脑生理学的重要性不及其在后代发展和生存中的作用。但是，父母身份的大脑变化会影响动物余生的一系列行为，包括学习和记忆以及压力和焦虑的调节。所有这些行为都涉及海马，这是一个高度塑性的大脑区域，它通过父母的经验和生理状态而改变，例如伴随到父母身份的荷尔蒙变化。我过去对大鼠的研究是一种单身哺乳动物，母亲只关心后代，这表明孕产妇的经验在短期和衰老中重塑了海马。必要时，对二聚体物种进行了有关父亲经验的稀有研究，但是在研究父亲时，这些研究通常忽略了母性。但是，父母的经验不仅包括每个父母与其后代之间的互动，还包括护理伙伴之间的互动。目前，我们对海马重塑的程度有较弱的了解，并在同一物种的女性和男性中经验及其对行为的影响。我提出的研究计划旨在通过一种统一的方法来解决我们知识的这一基本差距，该方法是一种二聚体和长寿的啮齿动物。我将首先使用父母的经验和衰老以及潜在的激素机制检查海马重塑和行为。然后，我将操纵脑重塑和激素途径，以将可塑性的变化与行为直接联系起来。育儿是许多动物的关键经历，但令人惊讶的是，这种独特的经历对大脑和衰老的影响知之甚少。从这项研究中获得的知识将有助于我们了解为什么父母在短期内和衰老及其对行为的影响中重塑女性和男性的大脑。该研究计划中的学员将成为动态和包容性研究环境的一部分，并鼓励在会议上介绍并将其结果发布在科学期刊上。学生将以动物行为，神经科学，生理学以及细胞和分子生物学的各种技能离开实验室，这些技能在学术界受到了极大的追捧，可转移到加拿大生物医学和保健行业以及政府实验室。