Behavior of In Utero Stressed Rats in the Elevated Plus Maze Test during Different Periods of Postnatal Ontogeny

• Published in: Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine 2023, Vol.174 (3), p.291-294
• Main Authors: Martyusheva, A. S., Subbotina, A. Yu, Abramova, A. Yu, Pertsov, S. S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Behavior, Animal; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Elevated Plus Maze Test; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Females; Humans; Internal Medicine; Laboratory Medicine; Male; Males; Maze Learning; Ontogeny; Pathology; Physiology; Pregnancy; Prenatal experience; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Rats; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological; Suckling behavior
• ISSN: 0007-4888; 1573-8221
• DOI: 10.1007/s10517-023-05693-6

We studied the effect of prenatal stress (dams were forced to swim in cold water (10°C; 5 min) from day 10 to 16 of gestation) on the behavioral parameters of the offspring in an elevated plus maze on days 21, 30, and 60 of life (suckling, infantile, and juvenile ages, respectively). Females at the suckling age demonstrated suppressed orientation and exploratory activity and increased anxiety, which returned to normal by the infantile and juvenile periods. Prenatally stressed males in juvenile age were characterized by reduced anxiety (assessed by the time spent in the closed and open arms of the plus maze). Thus, the effect of prenatal stress on the behavioral parameters manifested differently depending on the sex and stage of postnatal ontogeny. The modulatory effects of prenatal stress on the analyzed behavioral parameters were more pronounced in females at early stages of postnatal ontogeny (suckling and infantile ages).