Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains

Research has revealed that post-natal life encompasses the critical periods in which a developing brain exhibits a high level of plasticity. The environment which an individual is exposed to when young can affect the developing amygdala and hippocampus, and shape how one responses to stress during a...

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Main Author: Chia, Clarissa Si Ying
Other Authors: Rupshi Mitra
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64054
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author Chia, Clarissa Si Ying
author2 Rupshi Mitra
author_facet Rupshi Mitra
Chia, Clarissa Si Ying
author_sort Chia, Clarissa Si Ying
collection NTU
description Research has revealed that post-natal life encompasses the critical periods in which a developing brain exhibits a high level of plasticity. The environment which an individual is exposed to when young can affect the developing amygdala and hippocampus, and shape how one responses to stress during adulthood. While studies conducted in neuroscience and neural development mainly focused on early neonatal stages of maturation and their impacts on adulthood; research on adolescence has only been investigated recently. As behaviours are often linked with the expression level of proteins involved, the current study aims to explore the effects of early-life environment on the expression of BDNF and GR in the BLA and hippocampus in adolescent rats. Differential early-life environment paradigms such as maternal separation, limited nesting and environmental enrichment were employed during the post-natal period of male rat pups and the brain tissues were harvested when the pups reached adolescence. Western blot was carried out to detect the proteins. The results obtained were found not to be significant, with the BDNF and GR expression level in the BLA and hippocampus opposed to those reported in previous literature. Thus, further experiments need to be performed to re-evaluate current results.
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spelling ntu-10356/640542023-02-28T18:06:13Z Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains Chia, Clarissa Si Ying Rupshi Mitra School of Biological Sciences DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Human anatomy and physiology::Neurobiology DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Molecular biology Research has revealed that post-natal life encompasses the critical periods in which a developing brain exhibits a high level of plasticity. The environment which an individual is exposed to when young can affect the developing amygdala and hippocampus, and shape how one responses to stress during adulthood. While studies conducted in neuroscience and neural development mainly focused on early neonatal stages of maturation and their impacts on adulthood; research on adolescence has only been investigated recently. As behaviours are often linked with the expression level of proteins involved, the current study aims to explore the effects of early-life environment on the expression of BDNF and GR in the BLA and hippocampus in adolescent rats. Differential early-life environment paradigms such as maternal separation, limited nesting and environmental enrichment were employed during the post-natal period of male rat pups and the brain tissues were harvested when the pups reached adolescence. Western blot was carried out to detect the proteins. The results obtained were found not to be significant, with the BDNF and GR expression level in the BLA and hippocampus opposed to those reported in previous literature. Thus, further experiments need to be performed to re-evaluate current results. Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences 2015-05-22T07:15:29Z 2015-05-22T07:15:29Z 2015 2015 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64054 en Nanyang Technological University 22 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Human anatomy and physiology::Neurobiology
DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Molecular biology
Chia, Clarissa Si Ying
Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
title Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
title_full Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
title_fullStr Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
title_full_unstemmed Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
title_short Effects of differential early-life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
title_sort effects of differential early life environment on glucocorticoid receptor and brain derived neutrophic factor expression in male adolescent rat brains
topic DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Human anatomy and physiology::Neurobiology
DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Molecular biology
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64054
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