Mothers can pass along their experiences to their children without even trying, researchers reported in a surprising study on Tuesday that showed baby mice could inherit the benefits of "education" that their mothers received before they became pregnant.
The study shows that inheritance can go far beyond the classic genetic theories, researchers report in The Journal of Neuroscience.
They found that young mice raised in an enriched environment -- with toys and other stimulation -- passed along the learning benefits to pups they had after they grew up.
The stimulated mothers did not simply have better parenting skills, because the researchers showed pups swapped at birth still learned better if their biological mothers - but not their foster parents - had been raised with the extra toys.
"You inherit to some degree some aspects of your parent's experience," Larry Feig, a professor of biochemistry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, said in a telephone interview.
"This is a protective mechanism a mother passes on to her offspring," Feig, who helped lead the study, added.
Feig and colleagues raised mice, some in plain cases with wood chips and others in "enriched" cages with boxes, a running wheel, toys, and constant rearrangements of nesting material.
They tested learning with an unpleasant "shock chamber" to condition the mice to be afraid.
Mice born to mothers raised in the "enriched" cages learned much more quickly that the shock chamber was a scary place, Feig's team found. This was true even when the mothers did not become pregnant until weeks after they lived in the special cages

 研究人员于本周二报告称，母亲的经验不用刻意传授就可“自动”传给下一代。该项令人惊讶的研究发现，幼鼠能够继承母鼠在怀孕前所受“教育”的益处。
研究人员在发表于《神经系统科学》期刊的研究报告中称，研究显示，遗传可大大超出传统基因理论的范围。
研究人员发现，在放有玩具和其它刺激物的“高级”环境中成长的幼鼠会将它们的认知经验传给下一代。
这些在高级环境中受过“熏陶”的母鼠并非更懂得育儿技巧，因为研究人员发现，即便幼鼠在出生时被调换，但只要它们的生母（而非养母）曾在放有特别玩具的环境中长大，那么它们的认知能力也会更强。
波士顿图弗兹大学医学院的生物化学教授拉里•菲格在接受电话采访时说：“人在一定程度上能够遗传父母的某些经验。”
协助负责开展该研究的菲格教授说：“这是母亲传给下一代的一种保护机制。”
菲格及其同事分别在装有木屑的普通盒子和放有盒子、飞轮和玩具等物品的“高级”笼子中培育两组幼鼠。在后一个环境中，研究人员还不停地变换物品的摆放。
之后，研究人员分别检测两组老鼠的“学习能力”，他们将老鼠放在一个不太舒服的“震动箱”中让它们感到害怕。
研究小组发现，在高级笼子中培育的母鼠所生的幼鼠能更快地认识到震动箱是一个令人害怕的地方。即便母鼠在离开这种特殊的笼子数周后才怀孕，效果也一样。
Vocabulary:
foster parents:养父母