Correlation between adolescent chronic emotional stress and incidence of adult cardiovascular disease in female rats.

OBJECTIVES

Association of adolescent emotional stress (ES) with the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at older age was investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

21 female rats were divided into three groups of 7 each; ES, foot-shock, and control. Chronic ES was induced by exposing the rats to witness foot-shock of their neighboring counterparts in the stress-box system in 5 successive days. 6 weeks after the last stress exposure, M-Mode echocardiographic assessment, qRT-PCR, and western blotting were performed in adult rats to determine the persistent effect of adolescent ES on cardiac performance and gene/protein expression levels of cardiac natriuretic peptide receptor 3 (NPR3) as a biomarker of CVD.

RESULTS

Interventricular septum thicknesses in diastole (IVSd) increased from 0.152±0.007 cm to 0.197±0.016 cm (<0.05), left ventricular posterior wall thickness in diastole (LVPWd) significantly enlarged from 0.169±0.006 cm to 0.288±0.033 cm (<0.01), left ventricular posterior wall thickness in systole (LVPWs) enlarged from 0.223±0.012 cm to 0.318±0.038 cm (<0.05), left ventricular mass increased from 1.000±0.024 g to 1.283±0.084 g (<0.01), and mean heart rate elevated from 229.42±6.57 bpm to 280.29±10.45 bpm (<0.01). Moreover, ES significantly upregulated the expression levels of cardiac NPR3 gene (<0.01) and protein (<0.01).

CONCLUSION

The incidence of adult CVD seemed to be increased under the influence of adolescent ES. Consequently, we suggest that mental healthcare during adolescence would be a critical factor for adult CVD prevention.