Gibb, Robbin

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https://opus.uleth.ca/handle/10133/561

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Browsing Gibb, Robbin by Subject "Dissertations, Academic"

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    Experimental stimulation as a treatment for early brain damage
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, 2001, 2001) Gibb, Robbin L.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Kolb, Bryan
    The current work explores the therapeutic potential of experiential treatments for enhancing functional recovery and anatomical change after early brain damage. Normal rats and rats with perinatal cortical lesions (P2 or P7) were exposed to one of the following treatments: complex housing as juveniles, complex housing as adults, prenatal tactile stimulation, postnatal tactile stimulation, or postnatal handling (removal from the nest with no additional stimulaion). Behavior was assessed in adulthood the Morris water task and the Whishaw reaching task. There were sex differences in the details of the effect of experience on both behavioral recovery and brain morphology. For both sexes treatments initiated prior to or immediately after brain injury were most effective in improving functional outcome. This was correlated with changes in dendritic arborization and Acetylcholinesterase staining. The results suggest that behavioral treatments can be used to stimulate functional recovery after early brain injury.
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    Perinatal experience alters brain development and functional recovery after cerebral injury in rats
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, 2004, 2004) Gibb, Robbin L.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Kolb, Bryan
    Brain damage in the first week of life is behaviorally and anatomically devastating for a rat. I investigated the use of pre- and/or postnatal experience as interventions that might improve the outcomes in rats with postnatal day 4 (P4) frontal cortex lesions. Prenatal maternal tactile stimulation or maternal complex housing facilitated recovery in P4 lesion animals and produced changes in brain organization. Post-lesion tactile stimulation also was found to be beneficial possibly via experience dependent changes in FGF-2 expression. Levels of FGF-2 were increased in both skin and brain after tactile stimulation and correlated with behavioral and anatomical changes. Direct post-lesion administration of FGF-2 had similar effects. These results are the first demonstration that prenatal experience can be prophylactic for postnatal brain injury and that behavioral experience can act on brain organization via enhanced trophic factor expression originating in skin.