Do Pair-Fed Diets have Sex-Specific Influences on Bi-Directional Plasticity in the Medial Perforant Path of the Dentate Gyrus?
Date
2018-04-13
Authors
Suesser, Konrad
Fontaine, Christine J.
Christie, Brian R.
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Abstract
Alcohol is a teratogen that can lead to a range of developmental problems in offspring known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Ethanol exposure during pregnancy, known more formally as Pre-natal ethanol exposure (PNEE), especially affects an infant’s ability to learn and form memories, which are functions commonly associated with the hippocampus, a subcortical structure. The efficacy of neural transmission and synaptic plasticity in the brain is determined by both increasing and decreasing synaptic strength of neurotransmission, known as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), respectively. Using in-vitro electrophysiology techniques, I carried out high-frequency stimulation (HFS) and low-frequency stimulation (LFS) protocols in the medial perforant path of the dentate gyrus, within the hippocampus, to analyze differences in LTP and LTD of male and female pair-fed rats.
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Keywords
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, FASD, Hippocampus, electrophysiology, Medial Perforant path, Dentate Gyrus, LTP, long-term potentiation, LTD, long-term depression, synaptic plasticity, learning, memory, Neuroscience, Medical science, Neurobiology