Gestational exposure to excessive levels of dexamethasone impairs maternal care and impacts on the offspring's survival in rats.

Administration of dexamethasone (DEX) during late gestation is a model to study growth restriction in rodents, but the pup's mortality index can be high, depending on DEX dosage, and little is known about the effects of DEX on maternal care (MC). Considering that an inadequate MC can also contribute to pup's mortality in this model, we evaluated the effects of DEX on dams' behavior and its consequences on offspring survival. We also investigated whether the cross-fostering of pups from dams treated or not with DEX could improve pup's survival.

Behavioral, cardiovascular and endocrine alterations induced by chronic stress in rats fed a high-fat diet.

Chronic stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and anxiety disorders (AD). Obesity also increases the risk of CVD and AD. The modern lifestyle commonly includes high-fat diet (HFD) intake and daily exposure to stressful events.

Cardiovascular and metabolic consequences of the association between chronic stress and high-fat diet in rats.

Obesity and chronic stress are considered independent risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases and changes in autonomic system activity. However, the cardiovascular consequences induced by the association between high-fat diet (HFD) and chronic stress are not fully understood. We hypothesized that the association between HFD and exposure to a chronic variable stress (CVS) protocol for four weeks might exacerbate the cardiovascular and metabolic disturbances in rats when compared to these factors singly.