Neonatal handling and gender modulate brain monoamines and plasma corticosterone levels following repeated stressors in adulthood

• Published in: Neuroendocrinology Vol. 80; no. 3; p. 181
• Main Authors: Panagiotaropoulos, Theofanis, Pondiki, Stavroula, Papaioannou, Agapi, Alikaridis, Filaretos, Stamatakis, Antonis, Gerozissis, Kyriaki, Stylianopoulou, Fotini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 01-01-2004
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Brain - metabolism; Corticosterone - blood; Dopamine - metabolism; Escape Reaction - physiology; Female; Gonadal Steroid Hormones - physiology; Handling (Psychology); Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - metabolism; Immobility Response, Tonic - physiology; Male; Pituitary-Adrenal System - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Serotonin - metabolism; Sex Characteristics; Stress, Psychological - metabolism; Swimming - physiology; Testosterone - physiology
• ISSN: 0028-3835
• DOI: 10.1159/000082516

Neonatal handling affects the response to repeated stress in a sexually dimorphic manner. In order to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these gender-dependent effects, we investigated the consequences of neonatal androgenization and handling on adult stress reactivity by determining: (a) immobility time during repeated forced swimming, (b) plasma corticosterone levels, and (c) brain serotonin and dopamine levels and turnover after either repeated forced swimming, or repeated forced swimming followed by repeated restraint stress. In neonatally androgenized females, immobility time was lower in the handled than in the non-handled rats, a pattern resembling that of the males, suggesting that the sexually dimorphic effect of handling on immobility time can be attributed to the organizational effects of testosterone. No differences were found between androgenized females and females injected neonatally with vehicle, indicating that the gender differences in circulating corticosterone are not due to the organizational effects of testosterone. The stress of a neonatal injection interacted with neonatal handling resulting in lower plasma corticosterone and hypothalamic dopamine and serotonin levels in the neonatally injected handled animals following repeated forced swimming. The serotonergic system appears to be sensitive to both the organizational actions of testosterone and the effects of handling, since handled androgenized females had higher serotonin levels and decreased turnover following repeated forced swimming stress, compared to those injected neonatally with vehicle. Handling resulted in increased hypothalamic and striatal serotonin levels in both males and females following repeated forced swimming. Our results reveal that handling has gender-dependent effects on adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and brain monoaminergic system reactivity to stress and that these effects can be attributed to both the organizational and activational effects of gonadal hormones.