Prenatal enrichment and recovery from perinatal cortical damage: effects of maternal complex housing.

Robbin L Gibb,Bryan Kolb,Claudia L R Gonzalez

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00223

Robbin L Gibb, Bryan Kolb + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00223

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Abstract

Birth is a particularly vulnerable time for acquiring brain injury. Unfortunately, very few treatments are available for those affected. Here we explore the effectiveness of prenatal intervention in an animal model of early brain damage. We used a complex housing paradigm as a form of prenatal enrichment. Six nulliparous dams and one male rat were placed in complex housing (condomom group) for 12 h per day until the dams' delivered their pups. At parturition the dams were left in their home (standard) cages with their pups. Four dams were housed in standard cages (cagemom group) throughout pregnancy and with their pups until weaning. At postnatal day 3 (P3) infants of both groups received frontal cortex removals or sham surgery. Behavioral testing began on P60 and included the Morris water task and a skilled reaching task. Brains were processed for Golgi analyses. Complex housing of the mother had a significant effect on the behavior of their pups. Control animals from the condomom group outperformed those of the cagemom group in the water task. Condomom animals with lesions performed better than their cagemom cohorts in both the water task and in skilled reaching. Condomom animals showed an increase in cortical thickness at anterior planes and thalamic area at both anterior and posterior regions. Golgi analyses revealed an increase in spine density. These results suggest that prenatal enrichment alters brain organization in manner that is prophylactic for perinatal brain injury. This result could have significant implications for the prenatal management of infants expected to be at risk for difficult birth.

Highlights

Environmental effects on behavior and cerebral architecture in control animals have been well documented (Hebb, 1949; Rosenzweig et al, 1962; Rosenzweig, 1971; Greenough and Volkmar, 1973; Sale et al, 2009, 2014, for a review Sale et al, 2009, 2014)
Latency to find the hidden platform in this task has been shown to be an effective measure of cognitive impairment in postnatal day 3 (P3) frontal cortex lesion animals (Kolb and Gibb, 2010)
A Two-Way ANOVA revealed a main effect of group [F(1, 61) = 25.3, p < 0.0001], treatment [F(1, 61) = 8.0, p < 0.005] and a significant interaction [F(1, 61) = 5.3; p < 0.05]. This result reflected the impairment shown by the P3 lesion animals at finding the hidden platform in the water maze and the effectiveness of prenatal complex housing in reversing that impairment

Summary

Introduction

Environmental effects on behavior and cerebral architecture in control (uninjured) animals have been well documented (Hebb, 1949; Rosenzweig et al, 1962; Rosenzweig, 1971; Greenough and Volkmar, 1973; Sale et al, 2009, 2014, for a review Sale et al, 2009, 2014). These studies demonstrated that complex housing improved behavioral performance and increased such anatomical features as brain weight, cortical thickness, acetylcholinesterase density, and number of synapses. Environmental enrichment has been shown to reverse some of the effects of prenatal stress on a variety of cognitive, motor, and emotional tests (Chapillon et al, 2002; Morley-Fletcher et al, 2003; Fox et al, 2006; Li et al, 2012)

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