Marković Branka, Radonjić Nevena V, Aksić Milan, Filipović Branislav, Petronijević Nataša
Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, Blagoja Parovića 156, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Institute of Clinical and Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Pasterova 2, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:636574. doi: 10.1155/2014/636574. Epub 2014 Mar 10.
Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated an association between early stressful life events and adult life psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia. In rodents, early life exposure to stressors such as maternal deprivation (MD) produces numerous hormonal, neurochemical, and behavioral changes and is accepted as one of the animal models of schizophrenia. The stress induces acetylcholine (Ach) release in the forebrain and the alterations in cholinergic neurotransmitter system are reported in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to examine long-term effects of maternal separation on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in different brain structures and the density of cholinergic fibers in hippocampus and retrosplenial (RS) cortex. Wistar rats were separated from their mothers on the postnatal day (P) 9 for 24 h and sacrificed on P60. Control group of rats was bred under the same conditions, but without MD. Brain regions were collected for AChE activity measurements and morphometric analysis. Obtained results showed significant decrease of the AChE activity in cortex and increase in the hippocampus of MD rats. Density of cholinergic fibers was significantly increased in CA1 region of hippocampus and decreased in RS cortex. Our results indicate that MD causes long-term structure specific changes in the cholinergic system.
大量临床研究表明，早期应激性生活事件与包括精神分裂症在内的成年期精神障碍之间存在关联。在啮齿动物中，早年暴露于诸如母婴分离（MD）等应激源会产生多种激素、神经化学和行为变化，并且被公认为是精神分裂症的动物模型之一。应激会诱导前脑释放乙酰胆碱（Ach），而且精神分裂症患者存在胆碱能神经递质系统的改变。本研究的目的是考察母婴分离对不同脑结构中乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）活性以及海马体和压后皮质（RS）中胆碱能纤维密度的长期影响。将Wistar大鼠在出生后第9天（P9）与母亲分离24小时，并在P60时处死。对照组大鼠在相同条件下饲养，但不进行母婴分离。收集脑区用于测量AChE活性和进行形态计量分析。所得结果显示，MD大鼠的皮质中AChE活性显著降低，海马体中则升高。海马体CA1区胆碱能纤维密度显著增加，而RS皮质中则降低。我们的结果表明，母婴分离会导致胆碱能系统发生长期的结构特异性变化。
