TY - JOUR
T1 - Pre-reproductive parental enriching experiences influence progeny’s developmental trajectories
AU - Cutuli, Debora
AU - Berretta, Erica
AU - Laricchiuta, Daniela
AU - Caporali, Paola
AU - Gelfo, Francesca
AU - Petrosini, Laura
PY - 2018/11/12
Y1 - 2018/11/12
N2 - While the positive effects of environmental enrichment (EE) applied after weaning, in adulthood, during aging, or even in the presence of brain damage have been widely described, the transgenerational effects of pre-reproductive EE have been less examined. And yet, this issue is remarkable given that parental environmental experience may imprint offspring’s phenotype over generations through many epigenetic processes. Interactions between individual and environment take place lifelong even before conception. In fact, the environment pre-reproductively experienced by the mother and/or the father exerts a substantial impact on neural development and motor and cognitive performances of the offspring, even if not directly exposed to social, cognitive, physical and/or motor enrichment. Furthermore, pre-reproductive parental enrichment exerts a transgenerational impact on coping response to stress as well as on the social behavior of the offspring. Among the effects of pre-reproductive parental EE, a potentiation of the maternal care and a decrease in global methylation levels in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of the progeny have been described. Finally, pre-reproductive EE modifies different pathways of neuromodulation in the brain of the offspring (involving brain-derived neurotrophic factor, oxytocin and glucocorticoid receptors). The present review highlights the importance of pre-reproductive parental enrichment in altering the performances not only of animals directly experiencing it, but also of their progeny, thus opening the way to new hypotheses on the inheritance mechanisms of behavioral traits.
AB - While the positive effects of environmental enrichment (EE) applied after weaning, in adulthood, during aging, or even in the presence of brain damage have been widely described, the transgenerational effects of pre-reproductive EE have been less examined. And yet, this issue is remarkable given that parental environmental experience may imprint offspring’s phenotype over generations through many epigenetic processes. Interactions between individual and environment take place lifelong even before conception. In fact, the environment pre-reproductively experienced by the mother and/or the father exerts a substantial impact on neural development and motor and cognitive performances of the offspring, even if not directly exposed to social, cognitive, physical and/or motor enrichment. Furthermore, pre-reproductive parental enrichment exerts a transgenerational impact on coping response to stress as well as on the social behavior of the offspring. Among the effects of pre-reproductive parental EE, a potentiation of the maternal care and a decrease in global methylation levels in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of the progeny have been described. Finally, pre-reproductive EE modifies different pathways of neuromodulation in the brain of the offspring (involving brain-derived neurotrophic factor, oxytocin and glucocorticoid receptors). The present review highlights the importance of pre-reproductive parental enrichment in altering the performances not only of animals directly experiencing it, but also of their progeny, thus opening the way to new hypotheses on the inheritance mechanisms of behavioral traits.
KW - BDNF
KW - Cognition
KW - Environmental enrichment
KW - Maternal care
KW - Motor behavior
KW - Oxytocin
KW - Rats
KW - Stress response
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057083300&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00254
DO - 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00254
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85057083300
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
SN - 1662-5153
M1 - 254
ER -