Environmental Enrichment Rescues Oxidative Stress and Behavioral Impairments Induced by Maternal Care Deprivation: Sex- and Developmental-Dependent Differences.

Stress is related to major depressive disorder (MDD). This study investigated the action that early stress, represented by maternal deprivation (MD), has on the behavior and oxidative stress of Wistar female and male rats. Also, it was evaluated whether changes induced by MD could be reversed by environmental enrichment (EE).

ω-3 and folic acid act against depressive-like behavior and oxidative damage in the brain of rats subjected to early- or late-life stress.

Objectives: To investigate the antidepressant and antioxidant effects of omega-3, folic acid and n-acetylcysteine (NAC) in rats which were subjected to early or late life stress.

Methods: Early stress was induced through maternal deprivation (MD), while late life stress was induced using the chronic mild stress (CMS) protocol. Young rats which were subjected to MD and the adult rats which were subjected to CMS were treated with omega-3 fatty acids (0.

Early life experience contributes to the developmental programming of depressive-like behaviour, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.

This study used an animal model of depression induced by maternal care deprivation (MCD) to investigate whether depressive behaviour, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress were underlying factors in developmental programming after early life stress. At postnatal days (PND) 20, 30, 40, and 60, individual subsets of animals were evaluated in behavioural tests and then euthanized to assess cytokine levels and oxidative stress parameters in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus and serum. The results showed that MCD did not induce behavioural changes at PND 30 and 40.