Developmental mode along the altricial-precocial spectrum is well known to be influenced by brain development and maturation. The greater cane rat (GCR) is an indigenous precocial African rodent with uncommon phenotypes and life traits. This study was therefore designed to characterize and describe distinctive external developmental features in the prenatal GCR brain across the entire gestational length using the emergence and differentiation of external features of the brain vesicles. Four gross morphometric brain parameters (weight, length, width, and height) were evaluated and expressed as mean ± SEM. Relationship between all brain morphometrics and gestation length were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and linear regression. Developmental milestones in the prenatal GCR were then compared with closely related precocial mammals. The earliest time point with gross observable features in the prenatal GCR brain was at gestation day (GD) 60. The period with the most remarkable gross developmental features was noted between GD80 and GD100. Some of these gross features include differentiation of the cerebellar plate into vermis and lateral lobes, emergence of the piriform lobes, mammillary bodies, colliculi bodies, cerebral peduncles, and primordial pons. By GD130, most gross topographic neural features were already established. Cerebellar lobation and patterning at GD130 were the last recognizable gross developmental features noticed in the prenatal GCR brain. This coincided with the time of first eye opening in the GCR fetus. The developmental pattern observed in the prenatal GCR brain is similar to those noted in precocial rodent like the guinea pig. However, the onset of these milestones was delayed, and their duration was relatively shorter in the GCR. This study provides a frame of baseline reference of morphological brain features in the GCR embryos and fetuses that will be useful for fetal age estimation, for home grown neurodevelopmental and eco-toxicological studies, as this rodent is being proposed as a research model.
Dev Neurosci

中文翻译：

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发育中的大甘蔗大鼠 (Thryonomys swinderianus) 大脑的形态特征

众所周知，早熟-早熟谱的发育模式受大脑发育和成熟的影响。大甘蔗鼠 (GCR) 是一种土著性早熟的非洲啮齿动物，具有不常见的表型和生活特征。因此，本研究旨在利用脑囊泡外部特征的出现和分化来表征和描述整个孕期产前 GCR 大脑中独特的外部发育特征。评估了四个总体形态计量学参数（重量、长度、宽度和高度）并表示为平均值±SEM。使用单向方差分析和线性回归分析所有脑形态计量学和妊娠长度之间的关系。然后将产前 GCR 的发育里程碑与密切相关的早熟哺乳动物进行比较。产前 GCR 大脑中具有大体可观察特征的最早时间点是在妊娠日 (GD) 60。在 GD80 和 GD100 之间注意到具有最显着的大体发育特征的时期。其中一些大体特征包括小脑板分化为蚓部和侧叶，出现梨状叶、乳头体、丘体、大脑脚和原始脑桥。到 GD130，大多数总体地形神经特征已经建立。GD130 的小脑叶和模式是在产前 GCR 大脑中注意到的最后一个可识别的总体发育特征。这与 GCR 胎儿第一次睁眼的时间相吻合。在产前 GCR 大脑中观察到的发育模式类似于在豚鼠等早熟啮齿动物中观察到的发育模式。然而，这些里程碑的出现被推迟，并且它们在 GCR 中的持续时间相对较短。这项研究提供了 GCR 胚胎和胎儿形态学大脑特征的基线参考框架，这将有助于估计胎龄、本土神经发育和生态毒理学研究，因为这种啮齿动物被提议作为研究模型。
开发神经科学