Adversity during early life can lead to diverging endocrine and behavioral responses to stress in adulthood. In our laboratory, we evaluated the long-term effects of early life adversity and its interaction with chronic stress during adulthood. We propose this as a model of vulnerability to dysregulation of the stress response. We hypothesized that rats subjected to both protocols would show differential expression of corticosteroid receptors measured as number of neurons immunoreactive for glucocorticoid receptors (GR) or mineralocorticoid receptors (MR), in limbic areas related to the control of anxiety-like behavior. We also evaluated the effect of amitriptyline expecting to prevent the outcomes of the model. Male Wistar rats were separated from the mother (MS) for 4.5 h every day for the first 3 weeks of life. From postnatal day 50, rats were subjected to chronic variable stress (CVS) during 24 d (five types of stressor at different times of day). During the stress protocol, the rats were administered amitriptyline (10 mg/kg i.p.) daily. MS evoked lower MR expression in the central amygdaloid nucleus and this was reversed by amitriptyline. Furthermore, CVS increased MR immunoreactivity in the hippocampal area CA2 and increased anxious behavior; both effects were prevented by the antidepressant. When MS was combined with CVS during adulthood, there was a reduction of locomotor activity, with no corrective effect of amitriptyline. The differential effects among groups could mean that MS would promote an alternative phenotype that is expressed when facing CVS (a double hit) later in life.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2014.910649 | DOI Listing |
Neuropharmacology
January 2025
Dept. of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Pharmacology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy. Electronic address:
The central nervous system is a well-known steroidogenic tissue producing, among others, cholesterol metabolites such as neuroactive steroids, oxysterols and steroid hormones. It is well known that these endogenous molecules affect several receptor classes, including ionotropic GABAergic and NMDA glutamatergic receptors in neurons. It has been shown that also ionotropic purinergic (P2X) receptors are cholesterol metabolites' targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Department of Zoonotic Diseases, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt.
Toxoplasmosis induced by Toxoplasma gondii is a well-known health threat, that prompts fatal encephalitis increased with immunocompromised patients, in addition, it can cause chorioretinitis, microcephaly, stillbirth in the fetus and even led to death. Standard therapy uses sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine drugs revealed beneficial results during the acute stage, however, it has severe side effects. UPLC-ESI-MS/MS used to explore C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Clinical Support Services, Division of Laboratory and Pathology Medicine, Uganda Cancer Institute, Kampala, Uganda.
Alzheimers Dement
December 2024
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
Background: Estrogens, such as 17β-estradiol, are the primary female sex hormones predominantly synthesized by mature ovarian follicular cells. The natural exhaustion of ovarian follicular cells during menopause causes a rapid decline in endogenous estrogen levels. This decline in estrogen levels is associated with an increase in chronic, age-related pathologies, including inflammation in the brain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Background: According to data from the Alzheimer's Association, more than two-thirds of patients living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the United States are women. The interplay between aging and hormone depletion during menopause has been proposed as a leading cause, but the molecular underpinnings of this vulnerability are not fully understood. On the one hand, approaches that seek to supplement estrogens to rescue pre-menopausal hormonal levels have had contradictory outcomes in clinical trials.
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