Neonatal Stress Has a Long-Lasting Sex-Dependent Effect on Anxiety-Like Behavior and Neuronal Morphology in the Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus

Developmental Neuroscience
Silvana Regina de MeloB Kolb

Abstract

The long-lasting effects of early stress on brain development have been well studied. Recent evidence indicates that males and females respond differently to the same stressor. We examined the chronic effects of daily maternal separation (MS) on behavior and cerebral morphology in both male and female rats. Cognitive and anxiety-like behaviors were evaluated, and neuroplastic changes in 2 subregions of the prefrontal cortex (dorsal agranular insular cortex [AID] and cingulate cortex [Cg3]) and hippocampus (CA1 and dentate gyrus) were measured in adult male and female rats. The animals were subjected to MS on postnatal day (P) 3-14 for 3 h per day. Cognitive and emotional behaviors were assessed in the object/context mismatch task, elevated plus maze, and locomotor activity test in early adulthood (P87-P95). Anatomical assessments were performed in the prefrontal cortex (i.e., cortical thickness and spine density) and hippocampus (i.e., spine density). Sex-dependent effects were observed. MS increased anxiety-related behavior only in males, whereas locomotor activity was higher in females, with no effects on cognition. MS decreased spine density in the AID and increased spine density in the CA1 area in males. Females exhibited a...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 30, 2019·The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society·Marion Rincel, Muriel Darnaudéry
May 18, 2021·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·Anna Holubová-Kroupová, Romana Šlamberová

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