We examined offspring of 9-10 and 3.5-4 month-old female rats. Female offspring (14, 21, 28, 35, and 40 days) of old rats had higher body weight than offspring of young animals. No intergroup differences were revealed in the body weight of male offspring. At the age of 40 days the offspring of old females differed from the offspring of young rats by higher absolute weight of the brain (females), lower size of ganglionic neurons in the parietal lobe (males and females), and lower blood testosterone concentration (males). Thirty-day-old offspring of old rats exhibited higher locomotor activity and lower degree of anxiety compared to the offspring of young animals.

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Twenty-one- and 40-day-old offspring from female rats exposed to emotional stress for 3 weeks and mated with intact males 10 days later were examined. Intact female offspring served as the control. The weight of the brain of 21- and 40-day-old experimental rats varied is a wider range compared to the control. In 40-day-old experimental males, the mean weights of the brain and hemisphere were lower than in controls. In 21-day-old rats, layer V neuronal nuclei were enlarged, while the thickness of the parietal cortex tended to decrease. In 40-day-old animals, morphometric parameters of neurons in the neocortex and hippocampus and RNA concentration in their cytoplasm did not differ from the control. Thirty-day-old experimental rats demonstrated low exploratory activity in the plus-maze test.

No abstract