Effects of postnatal maternal separation stress on long-term potentiation in the rat lateral amygdala

• Autorzy: Danielewicz J. , Zielinski Z. , Hess G.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

Stressful experiences during the early stages of life can distort normal brain development. In humans, mother-infant interactions may represent a key factor for disease susceptibility which can manifest itself as cognitive and behavioral disorders later in life. The maternal separation (MS) procedure of rat pups represents a useful experimental paradigm to study disturbances in brain function that might occur in response to adverse events during development. MS-subjected animals, as adults, express behavioral and neuroendocrine signs of elevated stress reactivity and cognitive deficits. However, mechanisms by which early life stress exerts its impact on the development and maturation of the brain are poorly understood. This study was aimed at finding the efects of repeated MS on long-term potentiation (LTP) in the lateral amygdala (LA) of adolescent rats. Wistar dams with their offspring were housed under 12:12 h light/dark cycle with food and water available ad libitum. On each of postnatal days (PNDs) 1 - 21 the dams were removed from the maternity cages for 3 h and placed individually in holding cages, while the litter stayed in homecages. Then, the dams were returned to the maternity cages. MS animals, as well as control, animal facility reared rats, were weaned at PND 28 and then housed in groups (4 - 6 animals). For electrophysiological experiments rats between PND35 and PND 50 were used. They were anesthetized and coronal brain slices (450 µm thick) containing the lateral amygdala were cut. Field potentials (FPs) were evoked in LA by the stimulation of the external capsule. LTP was induced using repetitive theta burst stimulation (TBS) protocol. While in slices prepared from control rats FP amplitude, 90 min after TBS, amounted 185.9 ± 17.04 % of baseline, in slices obtained from MS animals LTP was significantly weaker (117.7 ± 7.7%; p=0.0002). These preliminary results indicate that MS stress impairs LTP in the lateral amygdala of adolescent rats.

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis
• Rocznik: 2011
• Tom: 71
• Numer: S
• Opis fizyczny: p.58

Twórcy

autor

Danielewicz J.

• Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

autor

Zielinski Z.

• Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

autor

Hess G.

• Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
• Department of Physiology, Institute of Pharmacology PAS, Krakow, Poland

Uwagi

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