Effects of Prenatal Cnidium officinale Makino Treatment on Spatial Memory and Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus of Rat Pups Born from Maternal Rats Exposed to Noise Stress during Pregnancy

It has been well documented in a host of animal studies that the development of an individual is beset by a complex set of environmental influences during the prenatal period. Prenatal stresses, in particular, are known to significantly influence brain development and behavior in the affected fetuses 1) . Considerable experimental and clinical evidence has been collected, and appear to indicate that prenatal stresses occurring during pregnancy may induce the retardation of growth as well as impairments in the proliferation and differentiation of neurons 2) , resulting in deficits in cognitive function as well as the neurological and behavioral abnormalities of offspring 3) . A host of neurological abnormalities and cognitive impairments appear to be related to the formation of hippocampus 4) . The hippocampus, which begins to form in the gestation stage and continues to be formed until the postnatal period, is a brain region which is known to be vitally involved in both learning ability and memory capacity 2) . Hippocampal neurogenesis appears to be influenced by several environmental factors and stimuli 5,8) . It has been well documented that prenatal stresses, including noise and restraint during pregnancy, suppress the formation of hippocampal granule cells in many different mammalian species 9,10) . Cnidium officinale Makino is believed to exert Effects of Prenatal Cnidium officinale Makino Treatment on Spatial Memory and Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus of Rat Pups Born from Maternal Rats Exposed to Noise Stress during Pregnancy