期刊
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
卷 27, 期 17, 页码 4650-4662出版社
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4518-06.2007
关键词
brainstem nuclei; primary afferents; taste; confocal laser microscopy; sodium; diet
资金
- NIDCD NIH HHS [R01 DC000407, R01 DC000407-21, DC00407] Funding Source: Medline
Neural development is especially vulnerable to environmental influences during periods of neurogenesis and rapid maturation. In fact, short periods of environmental manipulations confined to embryonic development lead to significant changes in morphology and function. Aguiding principal emerging from studies of sensory systems is that experimentally induced effects are most dramatic in higher neural levels (e.g., cortex) and primarily involve postnatal synaptic refinements. In contrast to other sensory systems, the gustatory system is particularly susceptible to the effects of deprivation much earlier and with profound changes evident in the brainstem. Here we show that feeding pregnant rats a custom diet featuring a low-sodium content for 9 d before the tongue appears in the fetus produces extensive restructuring of the gustatory brainstem. Rats born to mothers fed the custom diet from embryonic day 3 (E3) to E12 have terminal field volumes of the greater superficial petrosal, chorda tympani, and glossopharyngeal nerves at adulthood that are expanded as much as 10 times beyond that found in rats fed a standard rat chow. The widespread alterations are not attributable to increased numbers of nerve cells, increased target size, or obvious changes in peripheral taste function. Moreover, we show that the limited period of feeding the custom diet has much larger effects than if rats were fed the diet to postweaning ages. Our results suggest that early periods of altered experience, especially during nucleus of the solitary tract neurogenesis, leads to a restructuring of the gustatory brainstem, which in turn may impact the control of sensory and homeostatic processes.
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