title: Enriched environment upregulates growth-associated protein 43 expression in the hippocampus and enhances cognitive abilities in prenatally stressed rat offspring.
abstract: In our previous study, we reported that prenatal restraint stress could induce cognitive deficits, which correlated with a change in expression of growth-associated protein 43 in the hippocampus. In this study, we investigated the effects of enriched environment on cognitive abilities in prenatally stressed rat offspring, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Reverse transcription-PCR and western blot assay results revealed that growth-associated protein 43 mRNA and protein levels were upregulated on postnatal day 15 in the prenatal restraint stress group. Growth-associated protein 43 expression was significantly lower in the prenatal restraint stress group compared with the negative control and prenatal restraint stress plus enriched environment groups on postnatal days 30 and 50. Morris water maze test demonstrated that cognitive abilities were noticeably increased in rats from the prenatal restraint stress plus enriched environment group on postnatal day 50. These results indicate that enriched environment can improve the spatial learning and memory ability of prenatally stressed offspring by upregulating growth-associated protein 43 expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510185, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhengyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510185, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Baoling
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng 252000, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Morris water maze; cognition; enriched environment; growth-associated protein 43; hippocampus; neural regeneration; prenatal restraint stress