Chronic Escitalopram Treatment Does Not Alter the Effects of Neonatal Stress on Hippocampal BDNF Levels, 5-HT 1A Express
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Chronic Escitalopram Treatment Does Not Alter the Effects of Neonatal Stress on Hippocampal BDNF Levels, 5-HT1A Expression and Emotional Behaviour of Male and Female Adolescent Rats Lorena Henn 1 & Natália C. Zanta 1 & Carlos Eduardo N. Girardi 1
&
Deborah Suchecki 1
Received: 2 July 2020 / Accepted: 7 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Early life stress is considered a risk factor for the development of long-term psychiatric disorders. Maternal deprivation (MD) is a useful paradigm to understand the neurobiological underpinnings of early stress-induced changes in neurodevelopment trajectory. The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of a chronic treatment with escitalopram (ESC) on the hippocampal levels of BDNF and neuropeptide Y (NPY), expression of serotonin type 1A receptor (5-HT1A), plasma corticosterone levels and emotional behaviours in male and female adolescent rats submitted to MD at 9 days of life (group DEP9) and challenged with a brief and mild stress (saline injection (SAL)) at the end of MD. Whole litters were kept with mothers (CTL) or submitted to MD (DEP9). Within each group, pups were stress-challenged (CTL-SAL and DEP9-SAL) or not (CTL-NSAL and DEP9-NSAL). ESC or vehicle treatments began at weaning and lasted 24 days, when animals were sacrificed for determination of neurobiological variables or submitted to a battery of tests for evaluation of emotional behaviours. The results showed that BDNF levels were higher in SAL-challenged males and in DEP9-SAL females, whereas 5-HT1A receptor expression was reduced in DEP9 males and in SAL-challenged females. There were no changes in NPY or corticosterone levels. In the forced swim test, SALchallenged males and DEP9 females displayed less immobility and ESC only increased social motivation in males. The results indicated that neonatal stress led to sex-dependent changes in neurobiology and behaviour and that chronic ESC treatment had minor effects on these parameters. Keywords Maternal deprivation . Sex differences . Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor . Social motivation . Coping response
Introduction Early life parental loss represents a risk factor for later psychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia [1, 2]. In rats, maternal care during the first stages of postnatal development has an important role for typical neurodevelopment (for review, see [3]). The 24-h maternal deprivation (DEP) paradigm is an animal model of transient parental loss, which results in different long-term phenotypes, depending on the age it is applied (for review, see [4]). For instance, DEP on postnatal day (PND) 9 (DEP9) is a well-validated model relevant to schizophrenia, based on the impairment of pre-pulse Lorena Henn and Natália C. Zanta contributed equally to this work. * Deborah Suchecki [email protected] 1
Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Napoleão de Barros, 925, 1° andar, São Paulo, SP 04024-002, Brazil
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