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HERO ID
6555986
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Age-Dependent Effects of Prenatal Stress on the Corticolimbic Dopaminergic System Development in the Rat Male Offspring
Author(s)
Pallarés, ME; Baier, CJ; Adrover, E; Monteleone, MC; Brocco, MA; Antonelli, MC
Year
2013
Is Peer Reviewed?
Yes
Journal
Neurochemical Research
ISSN:
0364-3190
EISSN:
1573-6903
Volume
38
Issue
11
Page Numbers
2323-2335
Language
English
PMID
24013886
DOI
10.1007/s11064-013-1143-8
Web of Science Id
WOS:000325704400010
Abstract
We have previously demonstrated that prenatal stress (PS) exerts an impairment of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) system metabolism especially after puberty, suggesting a particular sensitivity of DA development to variations in gonadal hormonal peaks. Furthermore we demonstrated that PS alters the long term androgens profile of the rat male offspring from prepubertal to adult stages. In this work we evaluated the sexual hormones activational effects on the DA system by analysing PS effects on the dopaminergic D2-like (D2R) and on the gonadal hormones receptor levels on cortical and hippocampal areas of prepubertal and adult male offspring. We further evaluated the dendritic arborization in the same areas by quantifying MAP2 immunoexpresion. Our results show that PS affected oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) expression: mRNA er1s and ERα protein levels were decreased on prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of adult offspring. Moreover, PS reduced D2R protein levels in hippocampus of prepubertal rats. Morphological studies revealed that prepubertal PS rats presented decreased MAP2 immunoexpression in both areas suggesting that PS reduces the number of dendritic arborizations. Our findings suggest that PS exerts long-term effects on the DA system by altering the normal connectivity in the areas, and by modulating the expression of D2R and ERα in an age-related pattern. Since the developing forebrain DA system was shown to be influenced by androgen exposure, and PS was shown to disrupt perinatal testosterone surges, our results suggest that prenatal insults might be affecting the organizational role of androgens and differentially modulating their activational role on the DA development.
Keywords
Prenatal restraint stress; D2R; MAP2; Oestrogen receptor alpha
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