Early life stress enhances behavioral vulnerability to stress through the activation of REST4-mediated gene transcription in the medial prefrontal cortex of rodents.

ABSTRACT: There is growing evidence suggesting that early life events have long-term effects on the neuroendocrine and behavioral developments of rodents. However, little is known about the involvement of early life events in the susceptibility to subsequent stress exposure during adulthood. The present study characterized the effect of maternal separation, an animal model of early life adversity, on the behavioral response to repeated restraint stress in adult rats and investigated the molecular mechanism underlying behavioral vulnerability to chronic stress induced by the maternal separation. Rat pups were separated from the dams for 180 min per day from postnatal day 2 through 14 (HMS180 rats). We found that, as young adults, HMS180 rats showed a greater hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis respon

SUBMITTER: Uchida S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6633839 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature