Maternal corticosterone during lactation permanently affects brain corticosteroid receptors, stress response and behaviour in rat progeny

The long-term consequences of a physiological-range increase of maternal corticosterone during lactation were investigated on the 15-month-old progeny. The offspring of rats drinking water supplemented with corticosterone (200μg/ml of corticosterone hemisuccinate) from day 1 postpartum to weaning ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Neuroscience Vol. 100; no. 2; pp. 319 - 325
Main Authors:	Catalani, A, Casolini, P, Scaccianoce, S, Patacchioli, F.R, Spinozzi, P, Angelucci, L
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Inc 01-01-2000 Elsevier
Subjects:	active avoidance Analysis of Variance Animals Anti-Inflammatory Agents - blood Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology anxiety Avoidance Learning - drug effects Avoidance Learning - physiology Behavioral psychophysiology Biological and medical sciences Circadian Rhythm - physiology corticosterone Corticosterone - blood Corticosterone - pharmacology corticosterone receptors Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Hippocampus - drug effects Hippocampus - metabolism Hormones and behavior HPA axis Lactation - blood Lactation - drug effects Male neonatal life Pregnancy Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Rats Rats, Wistar Receptors, Steroid - drug effects Receptors, Steroid - metabolism stress Stress, Psychological - blood CORT-nursed CS stress anxiety active avoidance ANOVA neonatal life HPA axis corticosterone EDTA US Affect affectivity Corticosteroid Lactation Rat Hypothalamohypophysoadrenal axis Corticosterone Rodentia Central nervous system Glucocorticoid Stress Pregnancy Vertebrata Mammalia Animal Adrenal hormone Anxiety Brain (vertebrata) Biological receptor
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Summary:	The long-term consequences of a physiological-range increase of maternal corticosterone during lactation were investigated on the 15-month-old progeny. The offspring of rats drinking water supplemented with corticosterone (200μg/ml of corticosterone hemisuccinate) from day 1 postpartum to weaning exhibited: (i) better performance in a conditioned learning test; (ii) reduction of fearfulness in two conflict situations; (iii) lower stress-induced corticosterone secretion and (iv) higher number of corticosteroid receptors in the hippocampus. The results of this study show that the effects of maternal physiological-range hypercorticosteronemia during lactation are lifelong. Moreover, these data suggest that corticosteroids, secreted during neonatal life, may constitute a factor directing the neurobiological development of the infant. In line with this hypothesis, glucocorticoid-induced early events have consequences on the behavioral and physiological status of adulthood. These consequences may be either “beneficial” or “detrimental” depending on the plasma levels of corticosterone induced by the early life occurrences, as well as on the kind of the stimulus and the developmental stage at which the neonate experiences the event. The present study demonstrates that, when the increase of corticosterone in infancy is moderate, the adult rats show reduced anxiety, improved learning and a better coping strategy to deal with stressful situations.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0306-4522 1873-7544
DOI:	10.1016/S0306-4522(00)00277-3