Preadolescent Adversity Programs a Disrupted Maternal Stress Reactivity in Humans and Mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are one of the greatest predictors of affective disorders for women. Periods of dynamic hormonal flux, including pregnancy, exacerbate the risk for affective disturbance and promote hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation, a key feature of affective disorders. Little is understood as to how stress experienced in late childhood, defined as preadolescence, alters the programming unique to this period of brain maturation and its interaction with the hormonal changes of pregnancy and postpartum.

Methods

Preadolescent female mice were exposed to chronic stress and examined for changes in their HPA axis during pregnancy and postpartum, including assessment of maternal-specific stress responsiveness and transcriptomics

SUBMITTER: Morrison KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5326692 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature