Effects of brief stress exposure during early postnatal development in Balb/CByJ mice: II. Altered cortical morphology.

ABSTRACT: Early life experience can significantly determine later mental health status and cognitive function. Neonatal stress, in particular, has been linked to the etiology of mental health disorders as divergent as mood disorder, schizophrenia, and autism. Our study uses a Balb/CByJ mouse model to test the hypothesis, that neonatal stress will alter development and subsequent environmental modulation of neocortex. Using a split litter design, we generated stressed mice (STR) and within litter controls (LMC) along with age-matched, untreated animals (AMC), to serve as across litter controls. Short, daily exposure to a psychosocial/physical stressor, during the first week of life, resulted by adulthood in significant changes in neocortical thickness and architecture, which were further modulated by

SUBMITTER: Hohmann CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4090022 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature