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Citation
Tags
HERO ID
6708631
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Retardation of neurobehavioral development and reelin down-regulation regulated by further DNA methylation in the hippocampus of the rat pups are associated with maternal deprivation
Author(s)
Qin, L; Tu, W; Sun, X; Zhang, J; Chen, Y; Zhao, H
Year
2011
Is Peer Reviewed?
Yes
Journal
Behavioural Brain Research
ISSN:
0166-4328
EISSN:
1872-7549
Volume
217
Issue
1
Page Numbers
142-147
Language
English
PMID
20974192
DOI
10.1016/j.bbr.2010.10.018
Web of Science Id
WOS:000286539700021
Abstract
It is known that early life stress has profound effects in early developing hippocampus. Reelin is a large protein that regulates neuronal migration during embryonic development. The expression of reelin persists in brain, but its function is little known. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of maternal deprivation (MD) on early neurobehavioral development of rats, and the role of reelin and the potential mechanism underlying regulation of its expression in hippocampus. Rat pups were removed from mothers during the postnatal day (PND) 2-15 for 3h a day. Reflex developments including grasping, gait, righting, cliff avoidance, auditory startle, hot-plate test and negative geotaxis, were tested during the first 3 weeks. The level of reelin mRNA and reelin gene methylation in the hippocampal formation were determined using real-time PCR analysis. As expected, some differences appeared in the measure of neurobehavior and expression of reelin in rat pups. Several significant deficiencies were observed in bodyweight, auditory startle and grasping reflex while a great enhancement in hot-plate test in rat pups suffering from MD. On PND 22, the expression of reelin mRNA reduced in the hippocampus followed by MD. Meanwhile, the changes of DNA methylation showed an opposite trend compared with the reelin expression. The results suggest that MD in early life has harmful effects on neurobehavioral development, and causes the down-regulation of reelin mRNA by further DNA methylation in postnatal hippocampus.
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