Early life stress alters opioid receptor mRNA levels within the nucleus accumbens in a sex-dependent manner.

ABSTRACT: Early life stress (ELS) strongly impacts mental health, but little is known about its interaction with biological sex and postnatal development to influence risk and resilience to psychopathologies. A number of psychiatric disorders, such as social anhedonia and drug addiction, involve dysfunctional opioid signaling; moreover, there is evidence for differential central opioid function in males vs. females. The present study examined opioid receptor gene expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and amygdala of male and female rats subjected to a neonatal predator odor exposure (POE) paradigm to model ELS. Brain tissue was collected at two developmental time points: neonatal and juvenile. Results showed that, following the neonatal POE experience, opioid receptor mRNA levels in the NAc were

SUBMITTER: Chang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6701935 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature