Anna Klintsova
Anna Klintsova
Director, Behavioral Neuroscience Area
Office location
University of Delaware, 105 The Green, Room 228, Wolf Hall, Newark, DE 19716
Lab
302-831-2647 / Wolf Hall, Room 122
Education
- Ph.D. – Moscow State University of Friendship between Nations, Moscow, Russia
- B.S. – Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Biography
Anna Klintsova, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware and director of the behavioral neuroscience area. She researches behavioral interventions that enhance neuroplasticity in normal and damaged brains.
Klintsova’s interest in brain plasticity has a long history, starting with her dissertation project on the effect of psychotropic and neuroleptic drugs on synaptic organization of the brain (EM study).
After being awarded an International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) Fellowship in 1993, she continued her training in adult and developmental brain plasticity in the labs of Dr. Desmond and Dr. Brunjes (both University of Virginia); and later in the lab of late Dr. William Greenough (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Working in these labs allowed her to obtain a broad training in behavioral neuroscience, quantitative neuroanatomy and developmental neuroplasticity.
Klintsova's work has demonstrated long-lasting impairments in several aspects of hippocampal, cerebellar and prefrontal cortical plasticity after neonatal exposure to alcohol: decreased adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus; reduced dendritic complexity and spine density in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC); and loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebellar cortex. Disruption of neuroplasticity by neonatal alcohol exposure may contribute to behavioral deficits seen in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The use of targeted therapeutic interventions allowed Klintsova and her research team to significantly increase brain plasticity and improve behavior in the model of alcohol exposure.
Klintsova has published extensively on the subject of neuronal and synaptic plasticity as peer-reviewed empirical work and invited peer-reviewed reviews. She has written several peer-reviewed research papers regarding her long-standing interest in behavioral interventions that enhance neuroplasticity in normal and damaged brains.
Courses Regularly Taught
PSYC314: Brain and Behavior
NSCI320: Intro to Neuroscience
PSYC/NSCI467: Neuroplasticity Seminar
NSCI626: Advanced Neuroanatomy
NSCI629: Integrative Neuroscience
Research Projects
Area: Behavioral Neuroscience
Developmental alcohol exposure causes serious physical, cognitive and behavioral deficits in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and occurs in up to 5% of live births per year. In this study we are seeking to examine mechanisms through which developmental alcohol exposure might impact the brain and behavior, as well as two interventions that have potential as behavioral therapies to ameliorate the damage caused by alcohol exposure.
Exposure to alcohol in utero results in a dramatic increase of apoptosis (programmed cell death) in many areas of the brain, including hippocampus and cortical areas. To better understand the extent of the brain damage due to alcohol exposure we are analyzing the dynamics of apoptosis process and its internal regulation and compensation for the cell loss in the animal model of FASD.
Cortical areas of the brain are extremely plastic and capable of many changes due to exposure to drugs, teratogens, stress and environment. The work of my lab in the University of Delaware is demonstrating the extent of the dendritic and synaptic alterations in the prefrontal cortex of rats exposed to alcohol during the third trimester equivalent. Alcohol-related damage to developing prefrontal cortex has not been studied sufficiently, although cognitive impairments in executive functioning in human FASD suggest that the prefrontal cortex is damaged.
