Amanda C. Kentner

                                                What We Do

 

Our research explores the effects of environmental stressors on the developing brain (e.g., maternal/neonatal infection, psychogenic manipulations, drugs and other neurotoxicants). We also have a particular interest in evaluating factors that offer protective and/or rehabilitative potential against early-life adversity.

 

Using rodent models, we assess behavioral performance using a variety of translational behavioral tasks including several sociability metrics, prepulse inhibition, touchscreen technology, and other indices of emotional reactivity. Neuroendocrine and neurobiological correlates are also evaluated using standard approaches such as ELISA, western blotting, immunochemistry, and qPCR. The lab is currently evolving to include additional methods to evaluate neural circuit adaptations that arise from exposure to enrichment (e.g., environmental complexity, targeted sensory stimulation, maternal care).

 

Here is a select listing of some of our work:

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DeRosa, H., Caradonna, S.G., Tran, H., Marrocco, J., Kentner, A.C. (in press). Got Milk? Maternal immune activation during the mid-lactational period affects nutritional milk quality and adolescent offspring sensory processing in male and female rats. In press at Molecular Psychiatry. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01744-y. Paper available at: https://rdcu.be/cUP3e

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DeRosa, H., Caradonna, S.G., Tran, H., Marrocco, J., Kentner, A.C.  (in press). Milking it for all it’s worth: The effects of environmental enrichment on maternal nurturance, lactation quality, and offspring social behavior. In press at eNeuro. Paper available at: https://www.eneuro.org/content/9/4/ENEURO.0148-22.2022. 

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Zhao, X., Tran, H., DeRosa, H., Roderick, R.C., Kentner, A.C. (2021). Hidden Talents: Poly (I:C)-induced maternal immune activation improves mouse visual discrimination performance and reversal learning in a sex-dependent manner. Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 20, e12755, https://doi.org/10.1111/gbb.12755.

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Zhao, X., Mohammed, R., Tran, H., Erickson, M., Kentner AC. (2021). Poly (I:C)-induced maternal immune activation modifies ventral hippocampal regulation of stress reactivity: prevention by environmental enrichment. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 95, 203-215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.03.018.

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Kentner, A.C., Speno, A.V., Doucette, J., Roderick, R.C. (2021). The contribution of environmental enrichment to phenotypic variation in mice and rats. eNeuro, 8(2):ENEURO.0539-20.2021, https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0539-20.2021.

 

Núñez Estevez, K., Rondón-Ortiz, A., Nguyen, J., Kentner, A.C. (2020). Environmental influences on placental programming and offspring outcomes following maternal immune activation. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 83, 44-55,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.08.192  

 

Kentner, A.C., Bilbo, S.D., Brown, A.S., Hsiao, E.Y., McAllister, A.K., Meyer, U., Pearce, B.D., Pletnikov, M.V., Yolken, R.H., Bauman, M.D. (2019). Maternal immune activation: reporting guidelines to improve the rigor, reproducibility, and transparency of the model. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44, 275-258, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-018-0185-7. 

 

Kentner, A.C., Cryan, J.F., Brummelte, S. (2019). Resilience priming: translational models for understanding resiliency and adaptation to early-life adversity. Developmental Psychobiology, 61, 350-375,  https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21775.

 

Kentner, A.C., Scalia, S., Shin, J., Migliore, M.M., Rondon-Ortiz, A.N. (2018). Targeted sensory enrichment interventions protect against behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of early life stress.  

Psychoneuroendocrinology, 98, 74-85,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.07.029.  

 

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Other publications may be found under our 'Publications' section of this website.