This project will address how the environment regulates and contributes to motor behavior and plasticity of the developing spinal cord. It will enhance basic understanding of the importance of early-life experiences, and underlying mechanisms that limit or enhance neurobehavioral function. Neurobehavioral function involves the integrated output and action of the nervous system (i.e., behavior). This project will promote training and learning by involving student researchers (e.g., first-generation, and non-traditional college students) in the project; doing so will help improve STEM education.
Epigenetics, or environment-driven changes in gene activity, is an important mechanism that underlies brain plasticity. However, little is known about how the environment contributes to plasticity of the spinal cord. This project examines developmental and environment-induced epigenetic changes in the spinal cord, as related to motor behavior. It identifies and describes an important mechanism of behavioral development and spinal cord plasticity, which is important for identification of people at-risk for neurobehavioral dysfunction. DNA methylation of the Bdnf (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) gene in the spinal cord will be investigated during postnatal development in rats. Following open-field behavioral testing, DNA methylation in the spinal cord will be measured using bisulfite DNA sequence analysis. The relationship between epigenetic activity in the spinal cord and motor behavior will be examined in developing rats during the postnatal period as well as in response to changes in maternal caregiving. It is expected that spinal cord Bdnf methylation levels will be directly associated with changes in motor behavior. This project will contribute to understanding of basic principles and processes underlying behavioral development and mechanisms of spinal cord plasticity, and determine the extent to which DNA methylation of the Bdnf gene is a mechanism of central nervous system plasticity.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
