Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
Int J Dev Neurosci. 2020 Oct;80(6):464-476. doi: 10.1002/jdn.10034. Epub 2020 Aug 16.
Adolescence is a remarkable period of brain development. Prenatal stress can increase the risk of various neuropsychiatric disorders. This research investigated neurochemical and behavioural changes in the offspring rats (especially adolescences) who were treated with repeated variable prenatal stress (PNS) during the third week of gestation. The study tested the concentration of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), synaptotagmin-1(Syt-1), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine (DA), glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and oestrogen receptors (ERs) in the PFC (prefrontal cortex). We also tested prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex (ASR) (a measure of sensorimotor gating). The main results were as follows: PNS increased the BDNF and CD68 concentrations in adolescent females, and increased the Syt-1 concentration in adolescent males. The increases in BDNF/CD68 concentration (in females) and Syt-1/DA concentration (in males) with age were disturbed by PNS, and PNS changed the sex differences in CD68 concentration in adolescence and disturbed the sex differences in the Syt-1 concentration (in adolescence) and DA concentration (in adults). In conclusion, we found that PNS lead to Sex-dependent aberrant PFC development, and might accelerate the development of the adolescent PFC, and so that lessened the age difference (between adolescence and adulthood) and the sex difference.
青春期是大脑发育的重要时期。产前应激会增加各种神经精神疾病的风险。本研究调查了在妊娠第 3 周接受重复可变产前应激（PNS）处理的后代大鼠（尤其是青春期）的神经化学和行为变化。该研究测试了大脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）、分化簇 68（CD68）、突触结合蛋白-1（Syt-1）、5-羟色胺（5-HT）、多巴胺（DA）、糖皮质激素受体（GRs）和雌激素受体（ERs）在 PFC（前额叶皮层）中的浓度。我们还测试了听觉起始反射（ASR）的预脉冲抑制（PPI）（一种感觉运动门控的测量方法）。主要结果如下：PNS 增加了青春期雌性大鼠的 BDNF 和 CD68 浓度，并增加了青春期雄性大鼠的 Syt-1 浓度。PNS 干扰了 BDNF/CD68 浓度（在女性中）和 Syt-1/DA 浓度（在男性中）随年龄的增加，改变了青春期 CD68 浓度的性别差异，并干扰了青春期 Syt-1 浓度（在青春期）和 DA 浓度（在成年期）的性别差异。总之，我们发现 PNS 导致 PFC 出现性别依赖的异常发育，并可能加速青春期 PFC 的发育，从而减少了青春期和成年期之间的年龄差异和性别差异。
