Early-life prefrontal cortex inhibition and early-life stress lead to long-lasting behavioral, transcriptional, and physiological impairments.

ABSTRACT: Early-life stress has been linked to multiple neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric deficits. Our previous studies have linked maternal presence/absence from the nest in developing rat pups to changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity. Furthermore, we have shown that these changes are modulated by serotonergic signaling. Here we test whether changes in PFC activity during early life affect the developing cortex leading to behavioral alterations in the adult. We show that inhibiting the PFC of mouse pups leads to cognitive deficits in the adult comparable to those seen following maternal separation. Moreover, we show that activating the PFC during maternal separation can prevent these behavioral deficits. To test how maternal separation affects the transcriptional profile of the PFC we

SUBMITTER: Menezes EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11399324 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature