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J E Black

Publications and source records attributed to J E Black.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Exercise and the brain: angiogenesis in the adult rat cerebellum after vigorous physical activity and motor skill learning.

This study compared the morphology of cerebellar cortex in adult female rats exposed for 1 month to repetitive exercise, motor learning, or an inactive condition. In the exercise conditions, rats that were run on a treadmill or housed with access to a running wheel had a shorter diffusion distance from blood vessels in the molecular layer of the paramedian lobule when compared to rats housed individually or rats that participated in a motor skill learning task. Rats taught complex motor skills substantially increased the volume of the molecular layer per Purkinje neuron and increased blood vessel number sufficiently to maintain the diffusion distance. These results dissociate angiogenesis associated with increased neuropil volume (as seen in the motor learning group) from angiogenesis associated with increased metabolic demands (as seen in the exercise groups). While the volume fraction of mitochondria did not differ among groups, the mitochondrial volume fraction per Purkinje cell was significantly increased in the motor skill rats. This appears to parallel the previously reported increase in synapses and associated neuropil volume change.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Capillary and mitochondrial support of neural plasticity in adult rat visual cortex.

Young adult rats (60 days old) were placed in complex environments (EC) or kept in individual cages (IC) for 10, 30, or 60 days. Previously reported findings in these same animals of synaptogenesis, decreased neuronal density, and increased cortical thickness in the EC animals demonstrated that cortical volume substantially expanded after 30 days. Such expansion would have spread apart existing capillaries and mitochondria, thereby diluting metabolic support. However, capillary spacing and mitochondrial volume fraction were maintained in these EC animals after 30 days, suggesting that new capillaries and mitochondria had infiltrated the tissue. Furthermore, many small vessels appeared after 10 days of complex experience, followed by expansion in vessel size until vessels from rats in EC for 60 days were larger than those from rats in IC for 60 days. The findings of constant vessel spacing in the face of expanding tissue volume, along with a set of small vessels that subsequently increased in size, suggest that small-sized new vessels were introduced in EC cortex by 10 days but had not matured in size until after 30 days. The results indicate that young adult rats can generate new capillaries and mitochondria in response to increased metabolic demands, but in a less vigorous fashion than in previously described weanling animals.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Astrocyte hypertrophy in the dentate gyrus of young male rats reflects variation of individual stress rather than group environmental complexity manipulations.

Glial hypertrophy is associated with synaptogenesis in visual cortex and with stress-induced damage in the hippocampus. This study examined astrocytes in the dentate gyrus of male weanling rats exposed to complex or standard laboratory environments. No group differences in astrocytic surface density were observed, as expected in this brain region where group differences in synaptogenesis in male rats are reportedly minimal. Similarly, no group differences in adrenal weight were observed. Across all treatment groups, however, a significant positive correlation (r = 0.57) between adrenal weight and surface density of astrocytic processes was found. Considerable variation in responses of individual rats to their environments occurs in both the complex and the laboratory cage environments, and animals responding poorly may have had heavier adrenals and greater astrocyte reactivity in the dentate gyrus. Thus astrocyte hypertrophy in the dentate gyrus reflects the stress history of the individual rat and not any differential effects of rearing in a complex or a laboratory cage environment.

Adrenal Glands↗
PubMed1990

Learning causes synaptogenesis, whereas motor activity causes angiogenesis, in cerebellar cortex of adult rats.

The role of the cerebellar cortex in motor learning was investigated by comparing the paramedian lobule of adult rats given difficult acrobatic training to that of rats that had been given extensive physical exercise or had been inactive. The paramedian lobule is activated during limb movements used in both acrobatic training and physical exercise. Acrobatic animals had greater numbers of synapses per Purkinje cell than animals from the exercise or inactive groups. No significant difference in synapse number or size between the exercised and inactive groups was found. This indicates that motor learning required of the acrobatic animals, and not repetitive use of synapses during physical exercise, generates new synapses in cerebellar cortex. In contrast, exercise animals had a greater density of blood vessels in the molecular layer than did either the acrobatic or inactive animals, suggesting that increased synaptic activity elicited compensatory angiogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Effects of complex experience on somatic growth and organ development in rats.

Rats kept in complex environments (EC) show an array of brain changes relative to animals housed individually (IC). These effects have been explained as due to (a) information storage, (b) chronic stress that causes brain damage, or (c) neuroendocrine effects on brain maturation. Complex experience also affects somatic growth and organ development, and these may be related to the EC/IC brain differences. We have compared somatic growth and internal organs of 315 weanling and adult rats with various histories. (a) Young EC rats showed slower skeletal and visceral growth, while many brain components expand. (b) Although thymus and spleen were lighter in young ECs, immunocompetence was nonsignificantly (p less than .07) higher than in ICs. (c) Somatic growth of adult rats was slow and not very responsive to experience, whereas studies have shown EC/IC brain effects similar to those in young rats. (d) Males had slightly greater EC/IC somatic and visceral differences. (e) The stress index, adrenal weight, varied across age and experience, so chronic stress can not explain EC/IC brain differences. Training paradigms show brain changes similar to those from complex experience, occurring specifically with learning and in brain regions using the information. Learning and memory, therefore remain the best explanation of the EC brain effects.

Adrenal Glands↗
PubMed1988

Direct evidence that complex experience increases capillary branching and surface area in visual cortex of young rats.

Rats housed in complex environments with toys and other rats generate new synapses, and the expanding neuropil tends to spread apart existing blood vessels. Previous work demonstrated that weanling rats kept in complex environments had more closely packed capillaries, suggesting that new capillaries had sprouted into the newly added neuropil. The present study directly investigates the issue of new branching by using india ink perfusions of weanling rats kept for 30 days in a complex environment (EC), paired in standard caging (SC), or individual cages (IC) to examine the density of capillary branch points and the capillary surface area per unit tissue volume. EC rats had a greater density of branch points than the SC and IC littermates, a finding consistent with increased capillary sprouting. Capillary surface area per unit tissue volume and the number of branch points per unit of capillary surface area were also higher for EC rats. This suggests that blood vessels of EC rats branch off more often than those of animals kept in more standard conditions, and provides further evidence that complex experience can increase angiogenesis in cerebral cortex of postweanling rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Complex experience promotes capillary formation in young rat visual cortex.

The metabolic support of neural plasticity was examined by comparing cerebral vasculature of weanling rats reared in complex environments (EC) to littermates reared individually (IC) or socially in pairs (SC). EC rats have a thicker occipital cortex, more synaptic contacts per neuron and larger dendritic arbors compared to SC or IC rats, potentially increasing local metabolic demands on microvasculature. Capillaries of EC rats were closer together than those of SC or IC rats and potentially filled a greater fraction of cortex with blood. The closer capillary spacing in young EC rats suggests compensatory angiogenesis in response to increased metabolic demand.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Experience and brain development.

This article considers how experience can influence the developing and mature brain and proposes a new categorization scheme based upon the type of information stored and the brain mechanisms that appear to be involved in storing it. In this scheme, experience-expectant information storage refers to incorporation of environmental information that is ubiquitous in the environment and common to all species members, such as the basic elements of pattern perception. Experience-expectant processes appear to have evolved as a neural preparation for incorporating specific information: in many sensory systems, synaptic connections between nerve cells are overproduced, and a subsequent selection process occurs in which aspects of sensory experience determine the pattern of connections that remains. Experience-dependent information storage refers to incorporation of environmental information that is idiosyncratic, or unique to the individual, such as learning about one's specific physical environment or vocabulary. The neural basis of experience-dependent processes appears to involve active formation of new synaptic connections in response to the events providing the information to be stored. Although these processes probably do not occur entirely independently of one another in development, the categories offer a new view more in accord with neural mechanisms than were terms like "critical" or "sensitive period."

Brain↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Progressive failure of cerebral angiogenesis supporting neural plasticity in aging rats.

Previous work has demonstrated substantial formation of new synapses and capillary branches in visual cortex of young rats provided with complex experience. Synaptogenesis appears greatly weakened in old rats, however, perhaps because of an age-associated impairment of metabolic support. We have examined capillaries in visual cortex from eight 14-month-old and nine 24-month-old rats that had been kept for 50 days in either a complex environment with toys and other rats or in the standard laboratory condition they had been raised in. In spite of tissue expansion that increased cortical thickness and spread apart existing blood vessels in 14-month-old rats that received complex experience, the density of capillaries was not affected. These results indicate that new capillaries infiltrated the expanding tissue. These rats also had significantly more small-diameter capillaries, possibly reflecting the immaturity of new vessels and effectively reducing the maximum amount of blood available to the tissue. Similar but nonsignificant trends were observed in the 24-month-old animals given complex experience. These results suggest that angiogenesis, while it does occur, is substantially impaired in middle-aged animals, and a failure of angiogenesis in old rats may explain their reduced capacity for synaptogenesis.

Aging↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Usual vs. successful aging: some notes on experiential factors.

A common analogy to aging is that of a boulder being worn down to rubble by the unremitting onslaught of time. In contrast, Swaab's "use it or lose it" concept is important because it emphasizes some positive consequences of experience. For example, early exposure to complex experience may offer some protection from "wear and tear" degradation through improvements in vascular support, diet, exercise, and coping with stress. Exposure to complex experience in old age can also generate new synapses in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. This new perspective is not completely positive, however, because it appears that the senescent breakdown of supporting systems may ultimately constrain the positive benefits of experience in old age. Thus the evidence indicates that the use of environmental therapies should encompass the entire life span to produce successful aging.

Aged↗