Journal ArticleDOI
The effects of early postnatal stimulation on Morris water-maze acquisition in adult mice : genetic and maternal factors
TLDR
It was demonstrated that early-life handling of mouse pups reduced the learning impairments seen when mice were tested in the Morris water-maze at 120 days of age and also prevented stress-induced disturbances in this task, consistent with the proposition that performance disturbances of BALB/cByJ mice tests in theMorris water- maze task are associated with excessive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity.Abstract:
Following stressor exposure BALB/cByJ mice exhibit hypersecretion of corticosterone and marked brain catecholamine alterations. In addition, mice of this strain exhibit impairments of performance in a Morris water-maze, which may be exacerbated by footshock application. In the present investigation it was demonstrated that early-life handling of mouse pups (coupled with brief separation periods from the dam over the course of 21 days postpartum) reduced the learning impairments seen when mice were tested in the Morris water-maze at 120 days of age and also prevented stress-induced disturbances in this task. Likewise, cross-fostering BALB/cByJ mice with a C57BL/6ByJ dam prevented the performance deficits. In contrast, C57BL/6ByJ mice cross-fostered to a BALB/cByJ dam exhibited proficient performance. Thus, maternal factors may be important in determining the Morris water-maze disturbances, provided that this was applied on the BALB/cByJ genetic background. Stressor exposure exacerbated the performance disturbances in BALB/cByJ mice, while diazepam treatment disrupted Morris water-maze performance in both BALB/cByJ and C57BL/6ByJ mice. Paralleling the behavioral changes associated with handling, the stress-induced hypercorticosterone secretion characteristic of the BALB/cByJ mouse was attenuated by the early handling procedure. Stressor exposure also produced strain-dependent variations of NE and 5-HT, but these effects were not appreciably influenced by the handling procedure. These data are consistent with the proposition that performance disturbances of BALB/cByJ mice tested in the Morris water-maze task are associated with excessive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity. Moreover, it appears that the influence of early-life stimulation may interact with genetic factors in determining endocrine and behavioral stress responses.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Maternal care, gene expression, and the transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity across generations.
TL;DR: Evidence is provided for the importance of parental care as a mediator of the effects of environmental adversity on neural development and patterns of maternal care that increase stress reactivity in offspring are enhanced by stressors imposed on the mother.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary–developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity
W. Thomas Boyce,Bruce J. Ellis +1 more
TL;DR: Theoretical perspectives generate a novel hypothesis: that there is a curvilinear, U-shaped relation between early exposures to adversity and the development of stress-reactive profiles, with high reactivity phenotypes disproportionately emerging within both highly stressful and highly protected early social environments.
Journal ArticleDOI
Maternal care during infancy regulates the development of neural systems mediating the expression of fearfulness in the rat
Christian Caldji,Beth Tannenbaum,Shakti Sharma,Darlene D. Francis,Paul M. Plotsky,Michael J. Meaney +5 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that maternal care during infancy serves to "program" behavioral responses to stress in the offspring by altering the development of the neural systems that mediate fearfulness.
Journal ArticleDOI
CRF and CRF receptors: role in stress responsivity and other behaviors.
Tracy L. Bale,Wylie Vale +1 more
TL;DR: Although CRF appears to play a stimulatory role in stress responsivity through activation of CRFR1, specific actions of UcnII and UcnIII on CRFR2 may be important for dampening stress sensitivity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Prenatal Stress, Glucocorticoids and the Programming of the Brain
Leonie Welberg,Jonathan R. Seckl +1 more
TL;DR: The data suggest that key targets for programming include glucocorticoid receptor gene expression and the corticotrophin‐releasing hormone system, and that approaches to minimize or reverse the consequences of such early life events may have therapeutic importance.
References
More filters
Journal Article
Protein Measurement with the Folin Phenol Reagent
TL;DR: Procedures are described for measuring protein in solution or after precipitation with acids or other agents, and for the determination of as little as 0.2 gamma of protein.
Journal ArticleDOI
Early, postnatal experience alters hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA, median eminence CRF content and stress-induced release in adult rats
TL;DR: Rat pups 2-14 days of age were exposed daily to handling, maternal separation, or were left entirely undisturbed (non-handled; NH), while as adults, MS rats showed increased hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA levels compared with NH rats, while CRF mRNA levels in H rats were significantly lower than either MS or NH animals.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effect of neonatal handling on age-related impairments associated with the hippocampus.
TL;DR: A subtle manipulation early in life can retard the emergence of a complex degenerative cascade of aging in the rat, including glucocorticoid hypersecretion, hippocampal neuron death, and cognitive impairments.
Book
Stress, the Aging Brain, and the Mechanisms of Neuron Death
TL;DR: Individual differences and adrenocortical function - why do some individuals secrete more glucocorticoids than others?
Journal ArticleDOI
Selective corticosteroid antagonists modulate specific aspects of spatial orientation learning.
Melly S. Oitzl,E R de Kloet +1 more
TL;DR: The analysis of the behavioral pattern revealed that treatment with the MR antagonist altered search-escape strategies in the water maze and the injection of the GR antagonist after training resulted in increased latencies to find the platform, which reflects the disturbed consolidation of spatial information.
Related Papers (5)
Maternal Care, Hippocampal Glucocorticoid Receptors, and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Responses to Stress
Dong Liu,Josie Diorio,Josie Diorio,Beth Tannenbaum,Beth Tannenbaum,Christian Caldji,Christian Caldji,Darlene D. Francis,Darlene D. Francis,Alison Freedman,Alison Freedman,Shakti Sharma,Shakti Sharma,Deborah Pearson,Deborah Pearson,Paul M. Plotsky,Paul M. Plotsky,Michael J. Meaney,Michael J. Meaney +18 more