雯雅婷4手机版破解版:心理博客：应激体验可能影响下一代

ScienceDaily (Aug. 16, 2011) — Rats exposed to stress during early development inherit the effects of that stress to their offspring, largely expressed in behavior impairments but also characteristics of resilience, shows a new study from the University of Haifa, published in the journal Developmental Psychobiology. 

每日科学（2011年8月16日）——来自海法大学（the University of Haifa）的一项最新研究表明：在早期成长过程中，暴露于应激（stress）情境中的老鼠会继承应激的影响并将之传递给它们的后代，这些影响主要表现为行为障碍以及其适应环境的特质。该研究发表于期刊——《发展精神生物学》。

Providing environmental enrichment to the future mother rats had a remedial role on some of the negative effects. "The similarities between rats and humans raise the question of whether similar effects might transpire in humans; for example, exposure to war or natural disasters might have heritable effects," explains Prof. Micah Leshem who headed the study.

对于未来的老鼠妈妈而言，环境丰富性（environmental enrichment，指大脑对周围环境的信息处理过程，并由此种刺激而获得的影响——译注）的提供对某些负面的影响具有治疗作用。“人类与老鼠之间存在着相似性，这些相似性带来一个疑问，即类似的影响可能也会出现在人类身上。举了例子说，（人类个体）经历战争或是自然灾害所产生的影响可能具有遗传性。”主持这项研究的迈卡·莱谢姆（Micah Leshem）解释说。

The study, conducted by Prof. Leshem of the Department of Psychology at the University of Haifa along with Prof. Jay Schulkin of Georgetown University and postgraduate students Hiba Zaidan and Neta Kvetniy-Ferdman, set out to examine the cross-generational effects of early exposure to stress and enrichment. The researchers examined rats because of their resemblance to humans and their rapid rate of development and reproduction, which facilitates cross-generational studies.

该研究由海法大学心理学系教授莱谢姆，连同乔治敦大学教授杰伊·舒尔坎（Jay Schulkin）,研究生希巴·扎伊丹（Hiba Zaidan）、内塔·克韦特-费尔德曼（Neta Kvetniy-Ferdman）组织实施，他们要检验的是（个体）成长早期暴露于应激与丰富环境所产生的跨代影响。研究人员以老鼠为实验对象，原因在于它们与人类的相似性以及快速的生长与繁育速度，这些因素都有利于跨代的研究。

The researchers studied 40 female rats weaned at 27 days of age. One group of these females -- the control group -- was then raised normally in individual cages; the second group was exposed to different stressors; the third was enriched; and the fourth group was both stressed and enriched. The matured rats were mated at 60 days, had normal pregnancies and births, and their offspring pups were divided into two groups -- one raised normally, and the other raised in an enriched environment, so that the effect of "therapy" on the next generation could also be evaluated. The offspring groups were then evaluated with respect to social interaction, anxiety levels, ability to learn and capacity to cope with fear.

研究人员对40只雌性老鼠进行研究，这些老鼠在第27天断奶。老鼠分为四组，第一组——对照组——老鼠以正常的方式在单独笼子里饲养，第二组暴露于不同的应激源，第三组处于丰富的环境刺激之下，第四组同时暴露于应激与丰富环境。成年老鼠在第60天进行交配，进行正常的怀孕和分娩，然后将它们的鼠崽分为两组——一组以通常的方式进行喂养，另一组在丰富的环境下进行喂养，由此（丰富环境）对下一代的“治疗”效果也可以获得鉴定。接着，研究人员从社会互动（social interaction）、焦虑水平、学习能力以及应对恐惧的能力这些方面对这两组鼠崽进行鉴定。

The study's main findings showed that the early treatment of the mothers impacted their offspring behavior. Stress to the mothers reduced social interaction in their offspring, but improved their ability to learn to avoid distress. Male offspring were also better at coping with fear. Some of these changes were mitigated by enrichment to the mothers, so that stressing the mothers and then providing them with a "therapeutic" (enriched) environment, prevented some, but not all, of the effects in the next generation. Providing enrichment to the offspring also offset some of the inherited effects.

According to the researchers, their study, with other evidence, "suggests that evolution equipped the parent generation to sample its environment, and then, possibly via heritable epigenetic changes, to prepare the next generation to better cope with this environment," Prof. Leshem explains. "It is important to investigate whether stressful experiences at a young age affect the next generation, and whether therapeutic experiences can minimize the trans-generational effects in humans too. As our study shows that the inheritance of the effects of adversity can be modified by timely intervention, this may have important educational and therapeutic implications," he concludes.