Long lasting anxiety following early life stress is dependent on glucocorticoid signaling in zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: Chronic adversity in early childhood is associated with increased anxiety and a propensity for substance abuse later in adulthood, yet the effects of early life stress (ELS) on brain development remain poorly understood. The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a powerful model for studying neurodevelopment and stress. Here, we describe a zebrafish model of ELS and identify a role for glucocorticoid signaling during a critical window in development that leads to long-term changes in brain function. Larval fish subjected to chronic stress in early development exhibited increased anxiety-like behavior and elevated glucocorticoid levels later in life. Increased stress-like behavior was only observed when fish were subjected to ELS within a precise time window in early development, revealing a temporal

SUBMITTER: Chin JSR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9329305 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature