J.Neuroscience：母亲经验能遗传给孩子

美国研究人员日前在《神经学杂志》（Journal of Neuroscience）上发表报告说，母亲能毫不费力地把她们的经验遗传给孩子。这项研究显示，幼鼠能够继承它们母亲怀孕之前获得的有益知识。
报道说，研究发现，在一个有玩具和其他刺激性物品丰富的环境里成长的幼鼠，在长大后能把学到的知识传给它们的幼崽。研究人员还发现，如果给刚出生的幼崽更换父母，只要幼崽的生母（而不是养父母）在有玩具的环境里长大，它们的幼崽仍然可以学习得更好。
波士顿塔夫茨大学药学院的生物化学教授拉里·法伊格说：“你能在一定程度上继承你父母某些方面的经验。”
法伊格还说：“这是母亲传给后代的一个保护性机制。这些未来的鼠妈妈几个月来一直在成长。它们的大脑也在成长，因此当它们长到可以怀孕时，这种效果仍然存在。”（ 生物谷 Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Transgenerational Rescue of a Genetic Defect in Long-Term Potentiation and Memory Formation by Juvenile Enrichment
Junko A. Arai,1 * Shaomin Li,1 * Dean M. Hartley,2 and Larry A. Feig1
1Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences and Departments of Biochemistry and Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, and 2Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612
The idea that qualities acquired from experience can be transmitted to future offspring has long been considered incompatible with current understanding of genetics. However, the recent documentation of non-Mendelian transgenerational inheritance makes such a "Lamarckian"-like phenomenon more plausible. Here, we demonstrate that exposure of 15-d-old mice to 2 weeks of an enriched environment (EE), that includes exposure to novel objects, elevated social interactions and voluntary exercise, enhances long-term potentiation (LTP) not only in these enriched mice but also in their future offspring through early adolescence, even if the offspring never experience EE. In both generations, LTP induction is augmented by a newly appearing cAMP/p38 MAP kinase-dependent signaling cascade. Strikingly, defective LTP and contextual fear conditioning memory normally associated with ras-grf knock-out mice are both masked in the offspring of enriched mutant parents. The transgenerational transmission of this effect occurs from the enriched mother to her offspring during embryogenesis. If a similar phenomenon occurs in humans, the effectiveness of one's memory during adolescence, particularly in those with defective cell signaling mechanisms that control memory, can be influenced by environmental stimulation experienced by one's mother during her youth.