Developmental plasticity

About: Developmental plasticity is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1721 publications have been published within this topic receiving 103438 citations.

Neuronal plasticity and pain

Abstract: A frequent response to peripheral tissue damage or nerve injury is the appearance of constant pain, pain produced by innocuous stimulation, and increased sensitivity to noxious stimuli. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of these clinical features are poorly understood. Although peripheral neural mechanisms, such as nociceptor sensitization associated with tissue damage and neuroma formation following nerve injury, are contributors to the pathophysiology, recent studies indicate that changes in neuronal activity in the central nervous system also play an important role. This presentation will review some of the recent findings on physiological and neurochemical changes in the spinal dorsal horn associated with tissue damage and nerve injury.

Regulation of cpg15 Expression during Single Whisker Experience in the Barrel Cortex of Adult Mice

Abstract: Regulation of gene transcription by neuronal activity is thought to be key to the translation of sensory experience into long-term changes in synaptic structure and function. Here we show that cpgI5, a gene encoding an extracellular signaling molecule that promotes dendritic and axonal growth and synaptic maturation, is regulated in the somatosensory cortex by sensory experience capable of inducing cortical plasticity. Using in situ hybridization, we monitored cpgI5 expression in 4-week-old mouse barrel cortex after trimming all whiskers except D1. We found that cpgI5 expression is depressed in the deprived barrels and enhanced in the barrel column corresponding to the spared D1 whisker. Changes in cpgI5 mRNA levels first appear in layer IV, peak 12 h after deprivation, and then decline rapidly. In layers II/III, changes in cpgI5 expression appear later, peak at 24 h, and persist for days. Induction of cpgI5 expression is significantly diminished in adolescent as well as adult CREB knockout mice. cpgI5's spatio-temporal expression pattern and its regulation by CREB are consistent with a role in experience-dependent plasticity of cortical circuits. Our results suggest that local structural and/or synaptic changes may be a mechanism by which the adult cortex can adapt to peripheral manipulations. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sex differences in developmental plasticity and canalization shape population divergence in mate preferences.

Abstract: Sexual selection of high-quality mates can conflict with species recognition if traits that govern intraspecific mate preferences also influence interspecific recognition. This conflict might be resolved by developmental plasticity and learned mate preferences, which could drive preference divergence in populations that differ in local species composition. We integrate field and laboratory experiments on two calopterygid damselfly species with population genetic data to investigate how sex differences in developmental plasticity affect population divergence in the face of gene flow. Whereas male species recognition is fixed at emergence, females instead learn to recognize heterospecifics. Females are therefore more plastic in their mate preferences than males. We suggest that this results from sex differences in the balance between sexual selection for high-quality mates and selection for species recognition. As a result of these sex differences, females develop more pronounced population divergence in their mate preferences compared with males. Local ecological community context and presence of heterospecifics in combination with sex differences in plasticity and canalization therefore shape population divergence in mate preferences. As ongoing environmental change and habitat fragmentation bring formerly allopatric species into secondary contact, developmental plasticity of mate preferences in either or both sexes might facilitate coexistence and prevent local species extinction.

Phenotypic plasticity in blood–oxygen transport in highland and lowland deer mice

Abstract: In vertebrates living at high altitude, arterial hypoxemia may be ameliorated by reversible changes in the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood (regulated by erythropoiesis) and/or changes in blood-oxygen affinity (regulated by allosteric effectors of hemoglobin function). These hematological traits often differ between taxa that are native to different elevational zones, but it is often unknown whether the observed physiological differences reflect fixed, genetically based differences or environmentally induced acclimatization responses (phenotypic plasticity). Here, we report measurements of hematological traits related to blood-O2 transport in populations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) that are native to high- and low-altitude environments. We conducted a common-garden breeding experiment to assess whether altitude-related physiological differences were attributable to developmental plasticity and/or physiological plasticity during adulthood. Under conditions prevailing in their native habitats, high-altitude deer mice from the Rocky Mountains exhibited a number of pronounced hematological differences relative to low-altitude conspecifics from the Great Plains: higher hemoglobin concentrations, higher hematocrits, higher erythrocytic concentrations of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (an allosteric regulator of hemoglobin-oxygen affinity), lower mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentrations and smaller red blood cells. However, these differences disappeared after 6 weeks of acclimation to normoxia at low altitude. The measured traits were also indistinguishable between the F1 progeny of highland and lowland mice, indicating that there were no persistent differences in phenotype that could be attributed to developmental plasticity. These results indicate that the naturally occurring hematological differences between highland and lowland mice are environmentally induced and are largely attributable to physiological plasticity during adulthood.