Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Mar 3:12:100214.
doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100214. eCollection 2020 May.

Prenatal resident-intruder stress decreases levels of allopregnanolone in the cortex, hypothalamus, and midbrain of males, and increases levels in the hippocampus and cerebellum of female, juvenile rat offspring

Jennifer K Torgersen  1 , Rose Petitti  1 , Sedric Tello  1 , Vincent F Lembo  1 , Cheryl A Frye  1
Affiliations

Prenatal resident-intruder stress decreases levels of allopregnanolone in the cortex, hypothalamus, and midbrain of males, and increases levels in the hippocampus and cerebellum of female, juvenile rat offspring

Jennifer K Torgersen et al. Neurobiol Stress. .

Abstract

Prenatal stress (PNS) can influence behaviors associated with cognition, reward and emotional regulation, which are controlled by brain areas such as the cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, midbrain and cerebellum. Allopregnanolone in these regions modulates behavioral and parasympathetic effects. The current study tested whether exposing pregnant dams to 5 days of resident-intruder stress on prenatal days 15-20 for 10 min altered the levels of allopregnanolone in cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus, midbrain, and cerebellum of male and female juvenile offspring. In cortex, hypothalamus, and midbrain of male rats exposed to prenatal stress, levels of allopregnanolone were significantly lower compared to all other groups. In the hippocampus and cerebellum, among females exposed to prenatal stress levels were significantly higher compared to all other groups. These differences in allopregnanolone levels varying by prenatal stress, sex and brain regions provide insight in potential mechanism of stress regulation and etiopathophysiology of stress-related disorders.

Keywords: Chronic stress; Corticosterone; Dopamine; Microdialysis; Rat; Spatial memory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest declared.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
There was a significant interaction between sex and PRENATAL STRESS. Male juvenile offspring whose dams had been exposed to stress (grey bars) had significantly lower levels of allopregnanolone in cortex, compared to male offspring of control dams (black bars), prenatal stress female rats (grey diagonal bars), and female control rats (black vertical stripes).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
There was a significant interaction between sex and PRENATAL STRESS. Male juvenile offspring whose dams had been exposed to stress (grey bars) had significantly lower levels of allopregnanolone in cortex, compared to male offspring of control dams (black bars), prenatal stress female rats (grey diagonal bars) and female control rats (black vertical stripes).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
There was a significant interaction between sex and PRENATAL STRESS. Male juvenile offspring whose dams had been exposed to stress (grey bars) had significantly lower levels of allopregnanolone in midbrain, compared to male offspring of control dams (black bars), prenatal stress female rats (grey diagonal bars) and female control rats (black vertical stripes).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
There was a significant interaction between sex and PRENATAL STRESS. Prenatal stress females (grey diagonal bars) had significantly higher levels of allopregnanolone in hippocampus compared to female control rats (black vertical stripes), male juvenile offspring of control dams (black bars), and those whose dams had been exposed to stress (grey bars).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
There was a significant interaction between sex and PRENATAL STRESS. Prenatal stress females (grey diagonal bars) had significantly higher levels of allopregnanolone in cerebellum compared to female control rats (black vertical stripes), male juvenile offspring of control dams (black bars), and those whose dams had been exposed to stress (grey bars).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Antonijevic I.A., Russell J.A., Bicknell R.J., Leng G., Douglas A.J. Effect of progesterone on the activation of neurons of the supraoptic nucleus during parturition. J. Reprod. Fertil. 2000;120(2):367–376. Nov. - PubMed
    1. Baghai T.C., di Michele F., Schüle C., Eser D., Zwanzger P., Pasini A., Romeo E., Rupprecht R. Plasma concentrations of neuroactive steroids before and after electroconvulsive therapy in major depression. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2005;30(6):1181–1186. Jun. - PubMed
    1. Berridge K.C., Robinson T.E. Parsing reward.(2003) Trends Neurosci. 2003 Sep;26(9):507–513. Review. Erratum in: Trends Neurosci. Nov;26(11):581. PMID: 12948663. - PubMed
    1. Brunton P.J., McKay A.J., Ochedalski T., Piastowska A., Rebas E., Lachowicz A., Russell J.A. Central opioid inhibition of neuroendocrine stress responses in pregnancy in the rat is induced by the neurosteroid allopregnanolone. J. Neurosci. 2009;29:6449–6460. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brunton P.J., Russell J.A. Attenuated hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to immune challenge during pregnancy: the neurosteroid opioid connection. J. Physiol. 2008;586:369–375. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources