Gué Michèle, Bravard Audrey, Meunier Johann, Veyrier Renaud, Gaillet Sylvie, Recasens Max, Maurice Tangui
CNRS UMR 5102, Laboratory of Cerebral Plasticity, University of Montpellier II, place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France.
Behav Brain Res. 2004 Apr 2;150(1-2):149-57. doi: 10.1016/S0166-4328(03)00250-X.
Stress during pregnancy results in neurochemical and behavioral alterations observed throughout adulthood and aging. We here examined the impact of prenatal stress (PS) on cognitive functions in juvenile-4-week-old-rats, focusing on putative sex differences. Dams received an unpredictable 90-min duration contention stress between gestational day E17 and E20. Locomotion and learning ability were examined in offsprings between day P24 and P29 using actimetry, spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze, delayed alternation in the T-maze, and passive avoidance. Both male and female PS rats showed increased activity. In the Y-maze, diminished spontaneous alternation (males: -20%; females: -29%) were seen for PS rats compared to non-PS rats. The number of arm entries was unchanged among groups. In the T-maze, PS rats failed to perform delayed alternation, as shown by equal time spent and number of entries in both the novel and previously explored arms. In the passive avoidance test, PS resulted in significant impairments for female offspring only of both step-through latency and percentage of animals to criterion. PS thus induced severe learning impairments affecting both short-term and long-term memories that could be observed early in lifetime, in 4-week-old, juvenile rats. In addition, marked sex differences were evidenced, particularly in the passive avoidance response that may reflect differential developmental neuroadaptations in precise brain structures.
孕期应激会导致在整个成年期及衰老过程中出现神经化学和行为改变。我们在此研究了产前应激（PS）对4周龄幼年大鼠认知功能的影响，重点关注潜在的性别差异。孕鼠在妊娠第E17天至E20天期间接受不可预测的90分钟时长的争斗应激。在出生后第P24天至P29天期间，使用活动计数法、Y迷宫中的自发交替、T迷宫中的延迟交替以及被动回避实验，对后代的运动能力和学习能力进行检测。雄性和雌性PS大鼠的活动均增加。在Y迷宫中，与非PS大鼠相比，PS大鼠的自发交替减少（雄性：-20%；雌性：-29%）。各组之间进入臂的次数没有变化。在T迷宫中，PS大鼠未能进行延迟交替，表现为在新臂和先前探索过的臂中花费的时间和进入次数相等。在被动回避实验中，PS仅导致雌性后代在通过潜伏期和达到标准的动物百分比方面出现显著损伤。因此，PS在4周龄的幼年大鼠生命早期就诱导了严重的学习损伤，影响短期和长期记忆。此外，还证实了明显的性别差异，特别是在被动回避反应中，这可能反映了精确脑结构中不同的发育神经适应。
