Journal
NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 154, Issue 4, Pages 1218-1226Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.05.011
Keywords
forced swimming test; novel object recognition test; elevated plus maze; glucocorticoid receptor; mifepristone; propranolol
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We studied the long term effects of neonatal stress in female rats and subsequent responses to stress when adults. Female rats that experienced maternal separation (MS) showed in adulthood depressive-like behavior in the forced swimming test and cognitive impairments in the novel object recognition test, which were reverted by the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist mifepristone or the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol. Markers of HPA axis (corticosterone levels, CRF mRNA levels in the paraventricular nucleus and glucocorticoid receptor density in the hippocampus) were altered by MS, suggesting that an altered HPA axis function may be associated to behavioral and cognitive deficits in MS female rats. In addition, MS rats were found to be more vulnerable to chronic stress than controls as shown by decreases in open field activity, increases in immobility time in the forced swim test, and changes in markers of HPA axis (decreases in the density of glucocorticoid receptors). These present findings are discussed in terms of gender differences in adulthood. (C) 2008 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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