title: Perceptual Training Restores Impaired Cortical Temporal Processing Due to Lead Exposure.
abstract: Low-level lead exposure is a risk factor for cognitive and learning disabilities in children and has been specifically associated with deficits in auditory temporal processing that impair aural language and reading abilities. Here, we show that rats exposed to low levels of lead in early life display a significant behavioral impairment in an auditory temporal rate discrimination task. Lead exposure also results in a degradation of the neuronal repetition-rate following capacity and response synchronization in primary auditory cortex. A modified go/no-go repetition-rate discrimination task applied in adult animals for ∼50 days nearly restores to normal these lead-induced deficits in cortical temporal fidelity. Cortical expressions of parvalbumin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and NMDA receptor subunits NR2a and NR2b, which are down-regulated in lead-exposed animals, are also partially reversed with training. These studies in an animal model identify the primary auditory cortex as a novel target for low-level lead exposure and demonstrate that perceptual training can ameliorate lead-induced deficits in cortical discrimination between sound sequences.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Fanfan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Merzenich
authors.affiliation: Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Christoph E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Schreiner
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Xinde
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.|NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D011247:Pregnancy; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C120997:NR2A NMDA receptor; C121001:NR2B NMDA receptor; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; C579455:BDNF protein, human
keywords: low-level lead exposure; perceptual training; primary auditory cortex; processing deficits; rat