Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi 710061, China.
Behav Brain Res. 2013 Nov 15;257:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.08.044. Epub 2013 Sep 9.
Prenatal stress (PS) has been shown to be associated with anxiety. However, the underlying neurological mechanisms are not well understood. To determine the effects of PS on anxiety-like behavior in the adult offspring, we evaluated anxiety-like behavior using open field test (OFT) and elevated plus maze (EPM) in the 3-month offspring. Both male and female offspring showed a significant reduction of crossing counts in the center, total crossing counts, rearing counts and time spent in the center in the OFT, and only male offspring showed a decreased percentage of open-arm entries and open-arm time in open arms in the EPM. Additionally, expression of NR1 and NR2A subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) in the hippocampus (HIP), prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum (STR) was studied. Our results showed that PS reduced NR1 and NR2A expression in the HIP, NR2A expression in the PFC and STR in the offspring. The altered NR1 and NR2A could have potential impact on anxiety-like behavior in the adult offspring exposed to PS.
产前应激 (PS) 已被证明与焦虑有关。然而，其潜在的神经机制尚不清楚。为了确定 PS 对成年后代焦虑样行为的影响，我们使用旷场试验 (OFT) 和高架十字迷宫 (EPM) 评估了 3 个月大后代的焦虑样行为。雄性和雌性后代在 OFT 中均表现出中央穿越次数、总穿越次数、站立次数和中央停留时间的显著减少，而只有雄性后代在 EPM 中表现出进入开放臂的百分比和开放臂时间的减少。此外，还研究了海马 (HIP)、前额叶皮层 (PFC) 和纹状体 (STR) 中 N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸受体 (NMDAR) 的 NR1 和 NR2A 亚基的表达。我们的结果表明，PS 降低了后代 HIP 中的 NR1 和 NR2A 表达，PFC 和 STR 中的 NR2A 表达。改变的 NR1 和 NR2A 可能对暴露于 PS 的成年后代的焦虑样行为产生潜在影响。
