부산대학교 도서관

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2009.01.007 Byline: Melanie P. Leussis, Stephen C. Heinrichs Keywords: Cross-fostering; Seizure; cFos; Maternal behavior; Emotionality; Mouse Abstract: The present studies employed behavioral and neural markers of seizure-related plasticity to examine the relative contributions of genetic predisposition versus rearing environment in generating adult phenotypes in EL mice, a stress-induced animal model of epilepsy. Early environment was manipulated by cross-fostering pups of the EL strain to a seizure-resistant CD-1 control strain of mouse. The impact of changes in rearing quality on growth, exploratory and stress-reactivity phenotypes were examined, with a focus on the role of maternal care in shaping seizure susceptibility and neural cFos activation. Improvement in maternal care imposed by replacing biological EL dams with foster CD-1 mothers was sufficient to decrease pup mortality, to increase body weight gain (+0.1 g/day) and to delay the onset of seizure susceptibility in EL offspring beyond post-natal day 80-90. Moreover, hypoactivity in hippocampus and cortex among EL offspring cross-fostered to EL, but not CD-1 control, dams suggests that changes in rearing environment were accompanied by enduring changes in brain plasticity. Thus, neural and behavioral phenotypes of EL mice are dependent upon post-partum maternal care which if systematically enhanced can postpone seizure expression. Author Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA Article History: Accepted 5 January 2009