Neonatal handling alters brain organization but does not influence recovery from perinatal cortical injury.
Handling rat pups by removing them from the nest during the preweaning period has been shown to influence brain and behavioral development. The authors hypothesized that handling rats with perinatal (Day 4) medial frontal cortex removals might attenuate behavioral deficits and reverse dendritic atrophy associated with such an injury. On the day after surgery, pups were removed from the nest for 15 min, 3 times per day until weaning. Animals were tested as adults in the Morris water task and on skilled reaching. Handled animals showed no improvement in behavioral performance. The handling procedure led to a decrease in dendritic length in parietal cortex, but spine density was unchanged. No therapeutic advantage was observed following the preweaning handling of brain-injured rats.
Gibb
Robbin
R
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. gibb@uleth.ca
Kolb
Bryan
B
D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001835:Body Weight; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D016622:Silver Staining / Q000379:methods
D000110:Acetylcholinesterase