Department of Neuroscience, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Horm Behav. 2011 Apr;59(4):572-80. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.02.012. Epub 2011 Mar 3.
Fifteen percent of women worldwide develop postpartum depression; however, many women also suffer from mood disorders during pregnancy. Our knowledge of how these stress-related disorders affect the neurobiology of the mother is very limited. In animal models, depressive-like behavior is often associated with repeated stress and alterations in adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus. However, research has yet to investigate the effect of stress on affective-like behavior and hippocampal neurogenesis in the pregnant female. The aim of the present study was to determine whether stress during gestation alters affective-like behaviors, corticosterone levels, and hippocampal cell proliferation and new cell survival in the pregnant female, and whether these effects differ from virgin females. Age-matched pregnant and virgin Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two conditions: 1) stress and 2) control. Females in the stress condition were repeatedly restrained during gestation, and at matched time points in virgin females. Affective-like behaviors were assessed at the end of gestation, and at matched time points in virgin females. Results demonstrate that regardless of repeated restraint stress, pregnant females have increased anxiety-like behavior, decreased depressive-like behavior, and lower corticosterone levels, compared to non-stressed, and at times stressed, virgin females. In addition, stressed virgin females have lower levels of depressive-like behavior compared to control virgin females. Interestingly, hippocampal cell proliferation was increased in both virgin and pregnant females after stress. Understanding how stress affects the female during different reproductive states will aid in improving the health and well being of the mother and child.
全世界有 15%的女性在产后会出现抑郁症状；然而，许多女性在怀孕期间也会受到情绪障碍的困扰。我们对于这些与压力相关的疾病如何影响母亲的神经生物学的了解非常有限。在动物模型中，抑郁样行为通常与重复的压力和海马体中的成年神经发生改变有关。然而，研究尚未调查压力对怀孕女性的情感样行为和海马体神经发生的影响。本研究的目的是确定怀孕期间的压力是否会改变怀孕女性的情感样行为、皮质酮水平以及海马体细胞增殖和新细胞存活，以及这些影响是否与未怀孕的雌性不同。年龄匹配的怀孕和未怀孕的 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠被分为两种情况：1）应激和 2）对照。应激组的雌性在怀孕期间反复被束缚，而未怀孕的雌性则在匹配的时间点被束缚。在怀孕末期和未怀孕的雌性匹配的时间点评估情感样行为。结果表明，无论是否受到重复的束缚应激，怀孕的雌性与未怀孕的雌性相比，表现出更多的焦虑样行为，更少的抑郁样行为和更低的皮质酮水平，而在某些时间点，应激的未怀孕雌性的抑郁样行为水平比对照的未怀孕雌性更低。有趣的是，应激后无论是处女还是怀孕的雌性，海马体的细胞增殖都增加了。了解压力如何在不同的生殖状态下影响女性，将有助于改善母亲和孩子的健康和福祉。
