Adult Neural Plasticity in Naked Mole-Rats: Implications of Fossoriality, Longevity and Sociality on the Brain’s Capacity for Change

The parental umwelt: Effects of parenthood on sensory processing in rodents

“…), both of which are considered to be adaptations for arboreality 16,217 . Similarly, the eusocial naked mole‐rat ( Heterocephalus glaber ) is adapted to a fossorial lifestyle: it is nearly blind but has a very large somatosensory cortex, with almost a third of the cortex dedicated to the incisors 218 . Although factors within an animal's biotic and abiotic environment have been largely overlooked when assessing interspecific variation in sensory control of parental behaviour, they are likely to be influential.…”

“…16,217 Similarly, the eusocial naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is adapted to a fossorial lifestyle: it is nearly blind but has a very large somatosensory cortex, with almost a third of the cortex dedicated to the incisors. 218 Although factors within an animal's biotic and abiotic environment have been largely overlooked when assessing interspecific variation in sensory control of parental behaviour, they are likely to be influential. Accounting for variations in life history and environment will provide a more complete, and perhaps more complex, picture of the neural and hormonal plasticity that underlies the onset of caring for young.…”

Protracted neuronal maturation in a long-lived, highly social rodent

“…While DCX expression is not observed in naked mole-rats by 21 years of age, PSA-NCAM expression (developing and migrating neurons; endogenous plasticity marker) is detectable in the DG at this age [ 40 ]. The retention of neoteny is thought to be associated with their longevity [ 30 , 41 ], thus increasing the parallels in naked mole-rat development to humans and other non-human primates. Evidence also suggests that sociality alters DCX and Ki-67 (endogenous proliferation marker) expression in naked mole-rats depending on social context [ 42 – 44 ], and that levels of young neurons are higher relative to the solitary Cape mole-rat [ 45 ].…”