Early life manipulations alter learning and memory in rats

NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS

卷:36

Review

Kosten, Therese A.¹  Kim, Jeansok J.²  Lee, Hongjoo J.³ 

[1] Baylor Coll Med, Menninger Dept Psychiat & Behav Sci, Houston, TX 77030 USA

[2] Univ Washington, Dept Psychol, Seattle, WA 98195 USA

[3] Univ Texas Austin, Dept Psychol, Austin, TX 78712 USA

关键词: Early life stress;    Neonatal isolation;    Maternal separation;    Neonatal handling;    Aversive conditioning;    Spatial memory;    Hippocampus;    Development;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.07.003

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Much research shows that early life manipulations have enduring behavioral, neural, and hormonal effects. However, findings of learning and memory performance vary widely across studies. We reviewed studies in which pre-weaning rat pups were exposed to stressors and tested on learning and memory tasks in adulthood. Tasks were classified as aversive conditioning, inhibitory learning, or spatial/relational memory. Variables of duration, type, and timing of neonatal manipulation and sex and strain of animals were examined to determine if any predict enhanced or impaired performance. Brief separations enhanced and prolonged separations impaired performance on spatial/relational tasks. Performance was impaired in aversive conditioning and enhanced in inhibitory learning tasks regardless of manipulation duration. Opposing effects on performance for spatial/relational memory also depended upon timing of manipulation. Enhanced performance was likely if the manipulation occurred during postnatal week 3 but performance was impaired if it was confined to the first two postnatal weeks. Thus, the relationship between early life experiences and adulthood learning and memory performance is multifaceted and decidedly task-dependent. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free