Effects of early life social stress on maternal behavior and neuroendocrinology

Abstract

Maternal mood disorders such as depression and chronic anxiety can negatively affect the lives of both mothers and their adult offspring. An active focus of maternal depression and anxiety research has been the role of chronic social stress in the development of these disorders. Chronic exposure to social stress is common in humans, especially in lactating mothers, and postpartum mood disorders have been correlated with high levels of social conflict and low levels of social support. Recent studies have described an effective and ethologically relevant chronic social stress (CSS) based rodent model for postpartum depression and anxiety. Since CSS attenuates maternal behavior and impairs both dam and offspring growth, it was hypothesized that CSS is an ethologically relevant form of early life stress for the developing female offspring and may have effects on subsequent adult maternal behavior and neuroendocrinology Dams exposed to early life CSS as infants display substantial increases in pup retrieval and nursing behavior that are specifically associated with attenuated oxytocin, prolactin, and vasopressin gene expression in brain nuclei involved in the control of maternal behavior. Since the growth patterns of both groups were similar despite substantial increases in nursing duration, the early life CSS dams exhibited an attenuated nursing efficiency. It is concluded that early life CSS has long term effects on the neuroendocrinology of maternal care (oxytocin and prolactin) which results in decreased nursing efficiency in the adult dams. The data support the use of early life CSS as an effective model for stress-induced impairments in nursing, such as those associated with postpartum depression and anxiety.

Using Chronic Social Stress to Model Postpartum Depression in Lactating Rodents

“…Both the maternal care and offspring data indicate that CSS may have enduring effects on the future generations, and research on the effects of chronic stress on maternal behavior support the hypothesis that the effects of chronic stress on maternal behavior are hormonally mediated (Murgatroyd and Nephew 2012). Furthermore, recent data from the adult female offspring of stressed dams supports the hypothesis that CSS as a form of early life stress causes changes in central oxytocin (OXT) and prolactin (PRL) which are associated with inefficient nursing behavior 12 . The CSS model complements other effective models of stress induced disruptions in maternal behavior, such as limiting nesting material 26,27 and maternal separation 28,29 .…”

“…Recent rodent studies have been focusing on the use of ethologically relevant stressors, such as chronic social stress (CSS), in the study of the effects of stress on offspring behavior and mood disorders [9][10][11][12][13] . In an effort to develop an ethological model for postpartum depression, reduce the physiological component of the stressor used, and generate consistent behavioral and physiological results, our lab has focused on the use of social stress.…”

Peripartum depression and anxiety as an integrative cross domain target for psychiatric preventative measures

“…Rats stressed during prenatal life show similar behavioral and endocrine programming [154]. Several animal studies have demonstrated the important modifiable reflects of early maternal behaviors [45, 155–158]. Notably, changes in maternal care, through CSS, lead to altered neuropeptide regulation in the PVN and SON [45].…”

“…Several animal studies have demonstrated the important modifiable reflects of early maternal behaviors [45, 155–158]. Notably, changes in maternal care, through CSS, lead to altered neuropeptide regulation in the PVN and SON [45]. Meaney and colleague’s studies have linked increased arch back nursing, and licking and grooming to enhanced HPA axis feedback regulation and reduced anxiety-related behavior through increased glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression in the hippocampus [159].…”

Molecular Mechanisms of Neurodevelopmental Alterations in Prenatal and Neonatal Periods

“…Роль стресса раннего периода жизни в патогенезе аутизма, депрессии и хронической нейродегенерации в настоящее время активно обсуждается [43], а отде-ление потомства от матери является адекватной экс-периментальной моделью депрессии [44], причем такой вид стресса оказывает влияние не только на развитие потомства в отдаленном периоде жизни, но и на состоя-ние матери. На экспериментальных моделях убедительно показано, что отделение потомства от матери приводит к значительным колебаниям содержания ОТ в гипота-ламусе, миндалине мозга, однако нельзя не принимать во внимание то, что краткосрочные периоды отделения от матери могут иметь и позитивный поведенческий результат в отдаленные периоды жизни [1].…”