Recent evidence suggests that through multiple and complex mechanisms like environmental continuity, special maternal care and epigenetic changes, parental life experiences can influence neuronal and behavioral development of the offspring. Some influences could begin already in the pre-reproductive phase acting as vulnerability/resiliency factors for future development. In this study we assessed the response to a chronic stress, as social isolation (pnd 21-35) of male offspring from female Wistar rats exposed to a pre-reproductive environmental enrichment protocol (EE, pnd 21-72). By using the Stereo Investigator software we examined the eventual changes in the expression of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs), in dorsal hippocampus and in amygdala, structures closely implicated in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) regulation. The results showed an increased number of immunopositive cells for GRs both in amygdala and in hippocampus in the rats exposed to chronic social isolation in comparison to controls reared in standard conditions. EE exposure of mums seems exacerbate the difference between isolated vs. control groups. Namely, in the amygdala the offspring of enriched mothers exhibited overall a higher GRs expression in comparison to controls. These results indicate a transgenerational effects of prereproductive maternal enrichment on offspring stress system regarding activation (amygdala) and fine mechanisms of feedback and homeostatic regulation (hippocampus).The transgenerational effects of maternal pre-reproductive EE appears to foster functional plasticity of the stress system to efficiently meet ongoing environmental demands
Transgenerational effects of maternal pre-reproductive environmental enrichment on isolation stress response of offspring: glucocorticoids receptors expression in hippocampus and amygdala
Berretta E;
2015-01-01
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that through multiple and complex mechanisms like environmental continuity, special maternal care and epigenetic changes, parental life experiences can influence neuronal and behavioral development of the offspring. Some influences could begin already in the pre-reproductive phase acting as vulnerability/resiliency factors for future development. In this study we assessed the response to a chronic stress, as social isolation (pnd 21-35) of male offspring from female Wistar rats exposed to a pre-reproductive environmental enrichment protocol (EE, pnd 21-72). By using the Stereo Investigator software we examined the eventual changes in the expression of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs), in dorsal hippocampus and in amygdala, structures closely implicated in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) regulation. The results showed an increased number of immunopositive cells for GRs both in amygdala and in hippocampus in the rats exposed to chronic social isolation in comparison to controls reared in standard conditions. EE exposure of mums seems exacerbate the difference between isolated vs. control groups. Namely, in the amygdala the offspring of enriched mothers exhibited overall a higher GRs expression in comparison to controls. These results indicate a transgenerational effects of prereproductive maternal enrichment on offspring stress system regarding activation (amygdala) and fine mechanisms of feedback and homeostatic regulation (hippocampus).The transgenerational effects of maternal pre-reproductive EE appears to foster functional plasticity of the stress system to efficiently meet ongoing environmental demandsI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
