The timing of weaning alters the vulnerability to stress-induced gastric erosion in adult rats.

Background And Purpose: Weaning is an important period of life and its timing may influence the resilence for later stress. One of the most important stress-related disorder is gastric ulceration.

Methods: Therefore we aimed to investigate the sensitivity of gastric mucosa to cold (at 16°C) water immersion stress (WIS for 3h) in adult (75-day-old) female and male rats after weaning them at different timepoints (at 17, 21, 30, 36 or 42 postnatal days).

[Prenatal hypoxia modifies working memory and the activity of hippocampal polyphosphoinositide system in rats].

The present study was aimed at the analysis of spatial learning abilities in the Morris water maze (working memory) as well as hippocampal levels of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-diphosphates (TPI), phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphates (DPI), phosphotidylinositols (MPI), and expression of the type 1 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IR3R1) in rats exposed to severe hypobaric hypoxia (ascent to 11 km, 3 h) on prenatal days 14-16 (group 1) or 17-19 (group 2). Exposure to severe hypoxia led to significant elevation of TP 1 and DPI hippocampal levels in juvenile and adult rats in the group 1, however these changes were more pronounced in juvenile rats than in adults. In the group 2, hypoxia up-regulated TPI and DPI hippocampal levels in juvenile rats, but in adult animals of this group just a small TPI level up-regulation was detected.

[Effects of the prenatal hypoxia on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function and working memory in rats].

A comparative analysis of the effects of severe hypobaric hypoxia in different prenatal periods on expression profiles of glucocorticoid receptors (GR) in dorsal (CA1) and ventral (dental gyrus) hippocampus and neocortex of rats, their stress reactivity and working memory has been performed in the present study for the first time. According to the data obtained, severe hypoxia in the prenatal period induces remarkable disturbances of GR expression in the neurons of neocortex of adult males but not females, that correlates to the disruption of working memory in adult males exposed to hypoxia on the prenatal 14-16th days. Elevation of stress plasma corticosterone levels have been observed only in the females subjected to hypoxia on the prenatal 17-19th days.

[Effect of hypoxia in early perinatal ontogenesis on behavior and structural characteristics of the rat brain].

The study has shown the acute hypoxia in newborn rat pups to lead to disturbances of processes of formation of brain structures, behavior reactions, and learning in the subsequent ontogenesis. The single normobaric hypoxia at the 2nd day of life causes retardation of such integrative parameter or genera development and growth as body mass at the period of feeding. In such animals, essential disturbances of the sensorimotor development were revealed in forms of delay of reflex reactions of turning on a plane, negative geotaxis, and avoidance of edge.

Effect of prenatal hypobaric hypoxia on glutamatergic signal transduction in rat brain.

Ca(2+)-mediated signal transduction of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (ImGluR) was studied in the brain of young (15 days) and old rats (90 days) exposed to severe hypobaric hypoxia on gestation days 14-16. Changes in the concentration of bound intracellular Ca(2+) (Ca(2+) response) were evaluated after repeated application of a selective ImGluR agonist 3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) to cultured brain slices. Primary application of DHPG for 2 min induced a negative Ca(2+) response in slices from 15-day-old intact animals, while repeated application caused a positive response.

[The remote consequences of hypoxia influence in perinatal development period on structurally functional characteristics of the rat brain].

The study has shown that influence of acute hypoxia in perinatal period leads to structural changes in motor and visual of the neocortex for 20 postnatal days in the form of disturbance of the structural organisation of the neocortex layers. Different fields of hippocampus in perinatal period differently react to hypoxia, and evidence of existence of a long-term perinatal hypoxia was obtained. It is established that after action of acute hypoxia in all the fields there is a cellular destruction, and thinning of pyramidal neurones layers.

[Effect of prenatal hypobaric hypoxia on activity of the rat brain phosphoinositide system].

Activity of the phosphoinositide system of the intracellular signalization was studied in offspring of rats exposed to severe hypobaric hypoxia at the 14-16th (group 1) or the 18-20th day (group 2) of prenatal development. At the age of 15 days, in animals of both experimental groups the basal level of triphosphoinositides in the brain cortex was shown to be elevated as compared with control. In the group 1 this parameters also remains elevated in adult animals.

Maternal para-chlorophenylalanine exposure modifies central monoamines and behaviors in the adult offspring.

We reported a perspective animal model of neurodevelopmental disorders using rats prenatally exposed to an inhibitor of serotonin (5HT) synthesis, para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA). Earlier, we demonstrated that prenatal exposure to PCPA caused fetal 5HT depletion and changes both in open field activity and in depression-related behavior, as well as impairments in spatial learning in the adult offspring (Vataeva et al., 2007).

The possible use of hypoxic preconditioning for the prophylaxis of post-stress depressive episodes.

The protective effects of hypoxic preconditioning on the development of depressive states in rat models were studied. Three episodes of intermittent preconditioning using hypobaric hypoxia (360 mmHg, 2 h) prevented the onset of depressive behavioral reactions, hyperfunction of the hypophyseal-adrenal system, and impairments in its suppression in the dexamethasone test in rats following unavoidable aversive stress in a model of endogenous depression. The anxiolytic and antidepressant actions of hypoxic preconditioning in experiments on rats were no less marked than those of the tetracyclic antidepressant ludiomil.

[Effect of serotonin deficit at different stages of prenatal ontogenesis on behavior of adult male and female rats].

Effects of maternal parachlorophenilalanine (PCPA) administration on the offspring behavior were studied in the open field, Porsolt forced swimming, and Morris water maze tests. PCPA was administered in two different gestational periods: on gestational days (GD) 8-11 or GD 14-17, at doses 200/100/100/50 mg/kg. It was found that prenatal exposure to PCPA results in fetal serotonin (5-HT) depletion and changes in both open field activity and depression-related behavior, as well as impairments in spatial learning in the adult offspring.

[Behavior of female and male mice submitted to action of p-chlorophenylalanine in prenatal ontogenesis].

Effect of serotonin (5-HT) deficit produced by administration ofp-chlorophenylalanine at a dose of 400 mg/kg to pregnant female mice on the day 8 of gestation and on the subsequent behavior of their offspring (hybrids F1 (C57BL/CBA)) was studied. The 5-HT deficit in prenatal ontogenesis leads to the following changes of behavior: 1) females and males of the experimental group show a higher level of the explorative activity in the "open field" than control animals; 2) in females of the experimental group at the age of 90 days, unlike control females and males of experimental and control groups, the explorative activity is extinguished at the threefold testing in the "open field"; 3) females of the experimental group have a decreased level of anxiety in tests "elevated plus-maze" and the "dark-light chamber". Males of the experimental group, on the contrary, have an elevated level of anxiety.

Behavioral alteration in the adult rats prenatally exposed to para-chlorophenylalanine.

In the present work, effects of maternal administration of para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA), a serotonin synthesis inhibitor, on behavior of adult offspring were studied. Pregnant rats were injected intraperitoneally with PCPA (200/100/100/50 mg/kg) either on the gestational days (GD) 8-11 or 14-17, or with vehicle at the same days. Behavioral parameters, in an open field, the Porsolt forced swim test and the Morris water maze test were evaluated at the age of 3-3.

Antidepressant-like effects of mild hypoxia preconditioning in the learned helplessness model in rats.

The effects of preconditioning using mild repetitive hypobaric hypoxia (360 Torr for 2 h each of 3 days) have been studied in the learned helplessness model of depression in rats. Male Wistar rats displayed persistent depressive symptoms (depressive-like behaviour in open field, increased anxiety levels in elevated plus maze, ahedonia, elevated plasma glucocorticoids and impaired dexamethasone test) following the exposure to unpredictable and inescapable footshock in the learned helplessness paradigm. Antidepressant treatment (ludiomil, 5 mg/kg i.

[The effect of preceding mild hypoxia on the alteration of acquisition and retention of the conditioned passive avoidance behavior caused by severe hypobaric hypoxia in rats].

The purpose of this study was to determine whether mild hypobaric hypoxic preconditioning provides protection against learning deficit caused by subsequent more severe hypoxia insult. Learning was examined using a passive avoidance task. Three groups of Wistar male rats: the intact and exposed to either severe hypoxia (160 Torr, exposition 3 h) or mild hypobaric hypoxic preconditioning (360 Torr, exposition 2 h, repeated three or six times daily) followed by severe hypoxia, were included in this study.