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Maternal care influences hippocampal development in the rat. The offspring of mothers that exhibit increased levels of pup licking/grooming and arched-back nursing (High LG-ABN mothers) show increased hippocampal N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor binding and enhanced hippocampal-dependent spatial learning. In these studies we examined whether environmental enrichment from days 22-70 of life might reverse the effects of low maternal care. Environmental enrichment eliminated the differences between the offspring of High and Low LG-ABN mothers in both Morris water maze learning and object recognition. However, enrichment did not reverse the effect of maternal care on long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus or on hippocampal NMDA receptor binding. In contrast, peripubertal enrichment did reverse the effects of maternal care on hippocampal a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor binding. These findings provide evidence for the reversal of the effects of reduced maternal investment in early life on cognitive function in adulthood. Such effects might involve compensatory changes associated with peripubertal enrichment. (C) 2003 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Adulthood. --- Ampa receptors. --- Care. --- Cognitive function. --- Dentate gyrus. --- Development. --- Enrichment. --- Environmental enrichment. --- Expression. --- Function. --- Hippocampal. --- Investment. --- Learning. --- Level. --- Life. --- Long-term potentiation. --- Long-term. --- Maternal care. --- Maternal investment. --- Maternal-care. --- Maternal. --- Maze learning. --- Memory. --- Mice. --- Morris water maze. --- Mother. --- Nmda receptor. --- Nursing. --- Object recognition. --- Object. --- Parental care,enriched,cognition,glutamate receptors. --- Plasticity. --- Potentiation. --- Prenatal stress. --- Rat hippocampus. --- Rat. --- Receptor antagonist. --- Receptor-binding. --- Receptor. --- Recognition. --- Responses. --- Spatial learning. --- Spatial.

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Rearing mice from birth in an enriched environment leads to a conspicuous acceleration of visual system development appreciable at behavioral, electrophysiological and molecular level. Little is known about the possible mechanisms of action through which enriched environment affects visual system development. It has been suggested that differences in maternal behavior between enriched and non-enriched conditions could contribute to the earliest effects of enriched environment on visual development and that neurotrophins, BDNF in particular, might be involved. Here, we examined Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels in the visual cortex during development and showed that an increase occurs in the first week of life in enriched pups compared to standard reared pups; BDNF levels at birth were equal in the two groups. This suggests a postnatal rather than a prenatal effect of environment on BDNF. A detailed analysis of maternal care behavior showed that pups raised in a Condition of social and physical enrichment experienced higher levels of licking behavior and physical contact compared to standard reared pups and that enhanced levels of licking were also provided to pups in an enriched environment where no adult females other than the mother were present. Thus, different levels of maternal care in different environmental conditions could act as indirect mediator for the earliest effects of enrichment on Visual system development. Some of the effects of different levels of maternal care on the offspring behavior are long lasting. We measured the visual acuity of differentially reared mice at the end of the period Of Visual acuity development (postnatal day 45) and at 12 months of age, using a behavioral discrimination task. We found better learning abilities and higher visual acuity in enriched compared to standard reared mice at both ages. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Ability. --- Adult cortex. --- Adult. --- Age. --- Analysis. --- Bdnf. --- Behavior. --- Birth. --- Brain. --- Care. --- Contact. --- Cortex. --- Critical period. --- Dendritic growth. --- Development. --- Discrimination. --- Enriched environment. --- Enriched. --- Enrichment. --- Environment. --- Environmental enrichment. --- Female. --- Females. --- Group. --- Growth-factor-i. --- Increase. --- Learning ability. --- Learning-ability. --- Learning. --- Level. --- Licking behavior. --- Life. --- Long-term potentiation. --- Maternal behavior. --- Maternal care. --- Maternal touch. --- Maternal-behavior. --- Maternal-care. --- Maternal. --- Mechanisms. --- Mice. --- Mother. --- Neurotrophic factor. --- Physical. --- Plasticity. --- Prenatal. --- Pups. --- Rat-brain. --- Rearing. --- Social. --- Spatial memory. --- Synaptic-transmission. --- System. --- Task. --- Time. --- Visual acuity. --- Visual system development. --- Visual-cortex.