TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of early-life stress on the expression of HPA-associated genes in the adult murine brain

AU - Reshetnikov, V. V.

AU - Studenikina, A. A.

AU - Ryabushkina, J. A.

AU - Merkulova, T. I.

AU - Bondar, N. P.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

PY - 2018/1/1

Y1 - 2018/1/1

N2 - Early life is an important period for the development of the nervous system and for the programming of behavioural phenotypes in adulthood. In our study, two types of early-life stress were used: prolonged separation of pups from their mothers (for 3 h/day, maternal separation (MS)) and brief separation (for 15 min/day, handling (HD)). We analysed the effects of early-life stress on behaviour and the expression of HPA-associated genes in the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and frontal cortex of male mice. Adult mice in the MS group demonstrated reduced locomotor activity and deficiencies in spatial long-term memory, while the HD showed no significant changes. Additionally, early-life MS resulted in reduced hippocampal Crhr1 mRNA, increased MR/GR mRNA in the hippocampus and hypothalamus. Both groups, HD and MS, showed increased Avp mRNA in the hypothalamus. Thus, prolonged maternal separation but not brief leads to adverse behavioural changes and influences the expression of HPA-associated genes in a brain region-specific manner.

AB - Early life is an important period for the development of the nervous system and for the programming of behavioural phenotypes in adulthood. In our study, two types of early-life stress were used: prolonged separation of pups from their mothers (for 3 h/day, maternal separation (MS)) and brief separation (for 15 min/day, handling (HD)). We analysed the effects of early-life stress on behaviour and the expression of HPA-associated genes in the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and frontal cortex of male mice. Adult mice in the MS group demonstrated reduced locomotor activity and deficiencies in spatial long-term memory, while the HD showed no significant changes. Additionally, early-life MS resulted in reduced hippocampal Crhr1 mRNA, increased MR/GR mRNA in the hippocampus and hypothalamus. Both groups, HD and MS, showed increased Avp mRNA in the hypothalamus. Thus, prolonged maternal separation but not brief leads to adverse behavioural changes and influences the expression of HPA-associated genes in a brain region-specific manner.

KW - frontal cortex

KW - gene expression

KW - hippocampus

KW - HPA

KW - hypothalamus

KW - maternal separation

KW - mice

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045381750&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1163/1568539X-00003482

DO - 10.1163/1568539X-00003482

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85045381750

VL - 155

SP - 181

EP - 203

JO - Behaviour

JF - Behaviour

SN - 0005-7959

IS - 2-3

ER -