Massage Accelerates Brain Development and the Maturation of Visual Function

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience Vol. 29; no. 18; pp. 6042 - 6051
• Main Authors: Guzzetta, Andrea, Baldini, Sara, Bancale, Ada, Baroncelli, Laura, Ciucci, Francesca, Ghirri, Paolo, Putignano, Elena, Sale, Alessandro, Viegi, Alessandro, Berardi, Nicoletta, Boldrini, Antonio, Cioni, Giovanni, Maffei, Lamberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Soc Neuroscience 06.05.2009; Society for Neuroscience
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Behavior, Animal; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Body Weight - physiology; Brain - growth & development; Child Development - physiology; Electroencephalography - methods; Environment; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem - physiology; Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology; Eye Movements; Follow-Up Studies; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - physiology; Head Movements; Humans; Hydrocortisone - blood; Infant; Insulin - blood; Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 - blood; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I - metabolism; Massage - methods; Physical Stimulation - methods; Radioimmunoassay - methods; Rats; Statistics, Nonparametric; Thyroid Hormones - blood; Twin Studies as Topic; Vision, Ocular - physiology; Visual Pathways - growth & development
• ISSN: 0270-6474; 1529-2401
• DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5548-08.2009

Environmental enrichment (EE) was shown recently to accelerate brain development in rodents. Increased levels of maternal care, and particularly tactile stimulation through licking and grooming, may represent a key component in the early phases of EE. We hypothesized that enriching the environment in terms of body massage may thus accelerate brain development in infants. We explored the effects of body massage in preterm infants and found that massage accelerates the maturation of electroencephalographic activity and of visual function, in particular visual acuity. In massaged infants, we found higher levels of blood IGF-1. Massage accelerated the maturation of visual function also in rat pups and increased the level of IGF-1 in the cortex. Antagonizing IGF-1 action by means of systemic injections of the IGF-1 antagonist JB1 blocked the effects of massage in rat pups. These results demonstrate that massage has an influence on brain development and in particular on visual development and suggest that its effects are mediated by specific endogenous factors such as IGF-1.