Hormonal and Behavioural Abnormalities Induced by Stressin utero: an Animal Model for Depression
Stress. 2001-01-01; 4(3): 169-181
DOI: 10.3109/10253890109035016
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Prenatal stress in rats can exert profound influence on the off spring’s
development, inducing abnormalities such as increased “anxiety”, “emotionality”
or “depression-like” behaviours.Prenatal stress has long-term effects on the
development of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal(HPA) axis and forebrain
cholinergic systems. These long-term neuroendocrinological effects are mediated,
at least in part, by stress-induced maternal corticosterone increase during
pregnancy and stress-induced maternal anxiety during the postnatal period. We
have shown a significant phase advance in the circadian rhythms of corticosterone
secretion and locomotor activity in prenatally-stressed (PNS) rats. When
subjected to an abrupt shift in the light-dark(LD) cycle, PNS rats resynchronized
their activity rhythm more slowly than control rats. In view of the data
suggesting abnormalities in the circadian timing system in these animals, we have
investigated the effects of prenatal stress on the sleep-wake cycle in adult male
rats. PNS rats exhibited various changes in sleep-wake parameters, including a
dramatic increase in the amount of paradoxical sleep. Taken together, our results
indicate that prenatal stress can induce increased responses to stress and
abnormal circadian rhythms and sleep in adult rats.Various clinical observations
in humans suggest a possible pathophysiological link between depression and
disturbances in circadian rhythmicity. Circadian abnormalities in depression can
be related to those found in PNS rats. Interestingly, we have recently shown that
the increased immobility in the forced swimming test observed in PNS rats can be
corrected by chronic treatment with the antidepressant tianeptine, or with
melatonin or S23478, a melatonin agonist. Those results reinforce the idea of the
usefulness of PNS rats as an appropriate animal model to study human depression
and support a new antidepressant-like effect of melatonin and the melatonin
agonist S23478.
DOI: 10.3109/10253890109035016
PMID: 22432138 [Indexed for MEDLINE]