Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
8th North Sea Laterality Conference on Brain Asymmetry:, Bergen, Norveç, 24 - 27 Ağustos 2022, ss.17-18
Functional cerebral asymmetry (FCA) is defined as the specialization of the brain hemispheres to
control certain functions. For a long time, it was assumed that FCAs are determined by genetic factors
and once developed are constant over time. Recently, it has been shown that FCAs have some degree
of plasticity and can be influenced by environmental factors and may change over the life span of the
individual. In this study, the effect of prenatal stress on FCA was evaluated in rats. In addition, it was
investigated if the effect differs between developmental periods (Postnatal days (PD) 21, 40, 60, 90)
and if sex has an influence. Seven rat dams were exposed to a restrain stress protocol for 2 hours each
day during gestational days 15 to 21 while 6 dams served as controls. Collins test was performed to
determine the paw preferences of the offspring on PD21 (F=13, M=13), PD40 (F=14, M=13), PD60
(F=13, M=13), and PD90 (F=12, M=12). In females, the interaction between stress and the
developmental periods was found significant with less lateralization in the stressed group increasing
with age. In males, the interaction was not significant. These preliminary results demonstrate that
prenatal stress may influence the development of lateralization in rats and result in reduced FCA. In
addition, it supports the hypothesis that sex hormones may be one of the additional factors which
influence FCAs in general. Further validation with a larger number of subjects is required to confirm
these conclusions.