title: Environmental influences on brain neurotrophins in rats.
abstract: Environmental factors can have profound influences on the brain. Enriching environments with physical, social and sensory stimuli are now established to be beneficial to brain development and ageing. A multitude of responses from cellular and molecular mechanisms to macroscopic changes in neural morphology and neurogenesis have been considered in the context for evidences that environmental inputs can regulate brain plasticity in the rat at all stages of life. Data from our laboratory have revealed that enriched environment increased nerve growth factor (NGF) gene expression and protein levels in the hippocampus, and this may contribute to events underlying environmentally induced neural plasticity. Because neurotrophic factors are essential for neural development and survival, they are likely to be involved in the cerebral consequences modified by enriched experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Occupational Therapy, Elderly Care Research, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge University Hospital, S-141 86 Huddinge, Sweden. therese.pham@neurotec.ki.se
authors.forename: Therese M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Winblad
authors.forename: Ann-Charlotte
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Granholm
authors.forename: Abdul H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Mohammed
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors