Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex
In most mammalian species parent-offspring interactions during early life periods primarily comprise social contacts with the mother, whereas the role of males in parental care is one of the most overlooked and understudied topics. The present study addressed the hypothesis that the complete depriva...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnsyn.2020.00038/full |
| _version_ | 1819145116176089088 |
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| author | Tony de Schultz Joerg Bock Joerg Bock Katharina Braun Katharina Braun |
| author_facet | Tony de Schultz Joerg Bock Joerg Bock Katharina Braun Katharina Braun |
| author_sort | Tony de Schultz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In most mammalian species parent-offspring interactions during early life periods primarily comprise social contacts with the mother, whereas the role of males in parental care is one of the most overlooked and understudied topics. The present study addressed the hypothesis that the complete deprivation of paternal care delays or permanently retards synaptic connectivity in the brain, particularly in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of the offspring in a sex-specific manner. Another aim of this study was to address the question whether and in which way replacing the father with a female caregiver (in our experiments the “aunt”) can “buffer” the detrimental effects of paternal deprivation on neuronal development. The comparison of: (a) single mother rearing; (b) biparental rearing by father and mother; and (c) biparental rearing by two female caregivers revealed that: (i) paternal care represents a critical environmental factor for synaptic and dendritic development of pyramidal neurons in the vmPFC of their offspring; (ii) a second female caregiver (“aunt”) does not “buffer” the neuronal consequences of paternal deprivation; and that (iii) neuronal development in the vmPFC is differentially affected in male and female offspring in response to different family constellations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T12:52:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-745294d6df554ab8a1e67dbccb6d9eda |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1663-3563 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T12:52:55Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-745294d6df554ab8a1e67dbccb6d9eda2022-12-21T18:25:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience1663-35632020-09-011210.3389/fnsyn.2020.00038529000Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal CortexTony de Schultz0Joerg Bock1Joerg Bock2Katharina Braun3Katharina Braun4Department of Zoology, Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, GermanyPG “Epigenetics and Structural Plasticity,” Institute of Biology, Otto von Guericke, University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, GermanyCenter for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, GermanyDepartment of Zoology, Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, GermanyCenter for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, GermanyIn most mammalian species parent-offspring interactions during early life periods primarily comprise social contacts with the mother, whereas the role of males in parental care is one of the most overlooked and understudied topics. The present study addressed the hypothesis that the complete deprivation of paternal care delays or permanently retards synaptic connectivity in the brain, particularly in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of the offspring in a sex-specific manner. Another aim of this study was to address the question whether and in which way replacing the father with a female caregiver (in our experiments the “aunt”) can “buffer” the detrimental effects of paternal deprivation on neuronal development. The comparison of: (a) single mother rearing; (b) biparental rearing by father and mother; and (c) biparental rearing by two female caregivers revealed that: (i) paternal care represents a critical environmental factor for synaptic and dendritic development of pyramidal neurons in the vmPFC of their offspring; (ii) a second female caregiver (“aunt”) does not “buffer” the neuronal consequences of paternal deprivation; and that (iii) neuronal development in the vmPFC is differentially affected in male and female offspring in response to different family constellations.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnsyn.2020.00038/fulldendritic spinesprefrontal cortexpaternal deprivationfamily structuresex differencepyramidal neuron |
| spellingShingle | Tony de Schultz Joerg Bock Joerg Bock Katharina Braun Katharina Braun Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience dendritic spines prefrontal cortex paternal deprivation family structure sex difference pyramidal neuron |
| title | Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex |
| title_full | Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex |
| title_fullStr | Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex |
| title_short | Paternal Deprivation and Female Biparental Family Rearing Induce Dendritic and Synaptic Changes in Octodon degus: I. Medial Prefrontal Cortex |
| title_sort | paternal deprivation and female biparental family rearing induce dendritic and synaptic changes in octodon degus i medial prefrontal cortex |
| topic | dendritic spines prefrontal cortex paternal deprivation family structure sex difference pyramidal neuron |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnsyn.2020.00038/full |
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