social competitiveness and plasticity of neuroendocrine function in old age influence of neonatal novelty exposure and maternal care reliability老年社会竞争力和可塑性的神经内分泌功能的影响新生儿接触新奇和孕产妇保健的可靠性.pdfVIP

Social Competitiveness and Plasticity of Neuroendocrine Function in Old Age: Influence of Neonatal Novelty Exposure and Maternal Care Reliability 1 1 1 1 3,4 Katherine G. Akers , Zhen Yang , Dominic P. DelVecchio , Bethany C. Reeb , Russell D. Romeo , Bruce S. McEwen4, Akaysha C. Tang1,2* 1 Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America, 2 Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America, 3 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Barnard College, New York, New York, United States of America, 4 Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, Rockefeller University, New York, New York, United States of America Abstract Early experience is known to have a profound impact on brain and behavioral function later in life. Relatively few studies, however, have examined whether the effects of early experience remain detectable in the aging animal. Here, we examined the effects of neonatal novelty exposure, an early stimulation procedure, on late senescent rats’ ability to win in social competition. During the first 3 weeks of life, half of each litter received daily 3-min exposures to a novel environment while the other half stayed in the home cage. At 24 months of age, pairs of rats competed against each other for exclusive access to chocolate rewards. We found that novelty-exposed rats won more rewards than home-staying rats, indicating that early experience exerts a life-long effect on this aspect of social dominance. Furthermore, novelty-exposed but not home-staying rats exhibited habituation of corticosterone release across repeated days of social competition testing, sugg