Enriched experience during pregnancy and lactation protects against motor impairments induced by neonatal hypoxia-ischemia.

Enriched experience during pregnancy and lactation protects against motor impairments induced by neonatal hypoxia-ischemia. Behav Brain Res. 2019 Mar 28;: Authors: Durán-Carabali LE, Sanches EF, Reichert L, Netto CA Abstract Neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI) is responsible for movement disorders in preterm infants. Non-pharmacological strategies, such as environmental enrichment (EE) during adulthood, have shown positive effects on promoting sensorimotor recovery after HI. However, little is known about the effects of perinatal EE on sensorimotor function following HI. In present study we investigated the hypothesis that enriched experiences during pregnancy and lactation would reduce motor impairments caused by a model of neonatal HI in rats. At postnatal day (PND) 3, Wistar pups of both sexes were subject to the modified Rice-Vannucci model. Motor function was evaluated from PND 60 to PND 64. HI caused a reduction in the forepaws strength and worsening of movement quality in the right forepaw. These effects were attenuated in animals receiving prenatal or lactational EE, which showed better performance when compared to the control group. Moreover, enriched experiences during lactation reversed HI-induced asymmetric use of the forepaws and the trend to increased paw errors in a walking test. Lower scores were found in the contralateral forepaw placement in HI animals, except when EE was provided at both stages of neurodevelopment. The...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research