Does prenatal restraint stress change the craniofacial growth pattern of rat offspring?

Abstract

A major and frequently encountered condition underlying the long-term programming effects of the intrauterine environment is exposure to stress. Gestational stress is an environmental factor that induces physical and behavioral alterations in offspring. Seventy female virgin Wistar rats were mated with one male rat for a maximum of four times, after which 52 pregnant rats were divided into two groups. In the experimental group the rats were exposed to restraint stress during pregnancy, whereas the control group did not receive the stress protocol. One male litter was randomly chosen from the offspring of each rat with 8-13 pups. A total of 40 male rat offspring were available for analysis. Thirty-one linear and angular measurements were analyzed in both study groups to investigate whether prenatal restraint stress changes the craniofacial growth pattern of rat offspring. In the prenatally stressed group, anterior cranial base length and viscerocranium measures were significantly increased compared with the control group, whereas cranial width, mandibular dimensions, and posterior cranial height and length remained unchanged. Furthermore, the prenatally stressed group showed backward rotation of the midface and decreased flattening of the cranial vault. It was concluded that prenatal chronic stress can induce alterations in the craniofacial growth pattern by promoting endochondral growth in the cranial base and nasal septum.

Assessment of dentofacial variations in monozygotic twins

“…This is de--picted in one study in which re--straint stress was applied to a group of pregnant rat study mod--els to determine the extent of any changes in craniofacial growth patterns in rat offspring that in--trauterine stresses elicited [10]. The prenatally stressed group ex--perienced increases in anterior cranial base length and viscer--ocranium measures with back--ward rotation of the midface and decreased flattening of the cranial vault.…”

Low temperatures during ontogeny increase fluctuating asymmetry and reduce maternal aggression in the house mouse, Mus musculus

“…We found that although mean litter sizes and weights of all F 1 groups exposed to low temperatures were significantly reduced compared to the control group, infant mortality was highest in the progeny of combined preand post-natally stressed F1 females, indicating a greater reaction to longer term low temperature stress. Moreover, gestational stress, including exposure to teratogenic substances and extreme temperatures, has been shown to have adverse consequences on physical development, physiology, and behavior of rodents in other studies (Aminabadi et al, 2016;Benderlioglu et al, 2006;Breno et al, 2013).…”

Can galvanic skin conductance be used as an objective indicator of children's anxiety in the dental setting?

“…The data were evaluated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Q-Q plot to check the normal distribution of data. Levene’s test was used to assess the equality of variances (20,21). Spearman’s correlations coefficient, Wilcoxon signed-rank and paired samples t tests were used for evaluation of relationships between quantitative variables.…”