Effects of prenatal stress on anxiety and social interactions in adult rats

Deficits in social behavior are found in several neuro-psychiatric disorders with a presumed developmental origin. The aim of the present study is to determine if prenatal stress at a given day of gestation alters social behavior in adult offspring. Pregnant rats were exposed to an acute stress (pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research. Developmental brain research 2005-12, Vol.160 (2), p.265-274
Main Authors: Patin, V., Lordi, B, Vincent, A., Caston, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Aggression - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Behavior, Animal
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Female
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Maze Learning - physiology
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
Prenatal stress
Rat
Rats
Reaction Time
Social interaction
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Territory discrimination
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Summary:Deficits in social behavior are found in several neuro-psychiatric disorders with a presumed developmental origin. The aim of the present study is to determine if prenatal stress at a given day of gestation alters social behavior in adult offspring. Pregnant rats were exposed to an acute stress (presence of a cat) either at the 10th (S10), the 14th (S14) or the 19th (S19) gestational day. When adult, their offsprings were studied in anxiety, neophobic and social behaviors. The results showed that S10 and S19 rats were more anxious and less aggressive than control rats, while the anxious and aggressive behavior of S14 rats was similar to that of the control ones. It is suggested that day 14 of pregnancy is a hyposensitive period to stressful agents due to an important plasticity of the developing gross nervous structures.
ISSN:0165-3806
DOI:10.1016/j.devbrainres.2005.09.010