Disruptions of the mother-infant relationship and stress-related behaviours: altered corticosterone secretion does not explain everything.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the main neuroendocrine system of response to stress, and an imbalance of this system's activity is believed to be at the core of numerous psychiatric pathologies. During the neonatal period, the glucocorticoid response to stress is maintained at low levels by specific maternal behaviours, which is essential for proper brain development. Effective evaluation of the impact of increased secretion of corticosterone during an essentially anabolic developmental period on adulthood behaviour involved separation of the neonate from its mother for periods ranging from 3 to 24h.

Brief and long maternal separations decrease corticosterone secretion in a lupus-prone strain: dissociation from disease-related parameters.

Neonatal manipulations are known to alter the activity of the immune system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This study was performed in order to examine whether brief and long maternal separations (BMS and LMS, respectively) interfere with the onset and development of murine lupus in NZB/NZWF1 females, and to determine whether the pattern of corticosterone (CORT) secretion throughout life is associated to the expression of the disease. Maternal separation was performed daily during postnatal days 1-14, lasting 15 min in the BMS group and 3h in the LMS group.

Effect of sleep deprivation on the corticosterone secretion in an experimental model of autoimmune disease.

Objective: Sleep disturbances have been observed in a number of chronic inflammatory conditions, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Previous results from our laboratory showed that when NZB/NZWF1 mice, an experimental model of lupus, are submitted to sleep deprivation (SD), they exhibit an earlier onset of the disease. Sleep disturbances have far-reaching effects on the endocrine and immune system, changes that may be linked to disease manifestation.

Anxiolytic-like effects of rose oil inhalation on the elevated plus-maze test in rats.

The effect of rose oil inhalation (1.0%, 2.5%, and 5.