Prenatal stress induced depressive‐like behavior and region dependently high CRP level in offspring rats

Abstract

Introduction To explore the changes in C‐reactive protein (CRP) level in different regions of one old offspring rats exposed to prenatal stress (PS). Methods The rat model was constructed with prenatal restraint stress on pregnant dams on days 14–20 of gestation. Offspring rats were randomly divided into PS susceptibility (PS‐S) group and control (CON) group. Behavioral experiments including sucrose preference test (SPT), open‐field test (OFT), and forced swimming test (FST) were used to measure depressive‐like behaviors. Immunohistochemistry, qRT‐PCR, and Western blotting were applied to detect the changes in CRP level. Results The results showed that PS could cause depressive‐like behaviors in all SPT, OFT, and FST. Concomitantly, CRP mRNA and protein expression significantly increased in hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and hypothalamus in the PS‐S group when compared that in the CON group, while no significantly changes in liver, heart, olfactory bulb, striatum, and cerebellum in the PS‐S group when compared that in the CON group. Conclusion Increasing of CRP expression in hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and hypothalamus may play a critical role in the mechanism under depressive‐like behavior in offspring rats exposed to PS.

Administration of agmatine prior to physical or psychological stress in pregnant mice ameliorates behavioural and cognitive deficits in female offspring

“…Moreover, in the EPM, pups born to prenatally stressed dams exhibited increased entries into the closed arms. Taken together, these findings suggest that PS induced anxiety-like behaviour and impairments in locomotor activity of offspring, which is in line with several previous studies indicating that exposure to chronic stress in the developmental period is linked to anxiety and depression (Dong et al, 2018;Gur et al, 2017;Li et al, 2021). Excitingly, pretreatment of pregnant dams with agmatine before the induction of PS resulted in improved locomotor activity and attenuated the anxiety-like behaviour in the female offspring, which implies that prenatal administration of agmatine could be a preventive measure against PS-associated depression and anxiety.…”

“…It is well‐established that PS has a wide range of potential impacts on a developing foetus, including structural alterations, which could underlie adverse cognitive and behavioural outcomes during the postnatal period (Charil et al, 2010; Lautarescu et al, 2020). Numerous studies have suggested that PS is associated with increased depressive‐like behaviour (Fatima et al, 2017; Li et al, 2021), anxiety (Gur et al, 2017; Miyagawa et al, 2011) and addictive tendencies (Stratilov et al, 2020) in the offspring. As PS confers a later life vulnerability of offspring to negative behavioural outcomes, it is important to uncover the underlying neural mechanisms of PS‐associated outcomes.…”

Maternal prenatal stress and depression‐like behavior associated with hippocampal and cortical neuroinflammation in the offspring: An experimental study

“…Male pups seemed to be more susceptible to these effects. Our findings showed that rats and their offspring stressed during pregnancy in open‐field testing exhibited significantly reduced exploratory behavior and increased anxiety‐like behavior, consistent with previous studies (Li et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2019). Prenatal stress was associated with anhedonia (represented by decreased sucrose preference rates in SPT), behavioral despair and helplessness.…”

Vulnerability and resilience to prenatal stress exposure: behavioral and molecular characterization in adolescent rats

“…Animals exposed to PNS showed significant behavioral differences that resemble specific psychopathologic domains, with reduced sociability, increased anxiety and anhedonic behavior. These data are in line with previous reports showing the negative effects of different paradigms of prenatal stress on behavior outcomes [28][29][30][31]. It is interesting that the cluster analysis used to identify vulnerable and resilient animals revealed that the tests related to anxiety and sociability had higher predictive importance than the depressive one.…”