Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
School of Behavioral Science, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel.
Transl Psychiatry. 2021 May 4;11(1):268. doi: 10.1038/s41398-021-01383-x.
Maternal stress has debilitating implications for both mother and child, including increased risk for anxiety. The current COVID-19 pandemic escalates these phenomena, thus, urging the need to further explore and validate feasible therapeutic options. Unlike the protracted nature of clinical studies, animal models could offer swift evidence. Prominent candidates for treatment are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to the mother, that putatively accommodate maternal functioning, and, thereby, also protect the child. However, SSRIs might have deleterious effects. It is important to assess whether SSRIs and other pharmacotherapies can moderate the transference of anxiety by soothing maternal anxiety and to examine the extent of offspring's exposure to the drugs via lactation. To our knowledge, the possibility that antenatal stress exacerbates lactation-driven exposure to SSRIs has not been tested yet. Thirty ICR-outbred female mice were exposed to stress during gestation and subsequently administered with either the SSRI, escitalopram, or the novel herbal candidate, shan-zha, during lactation. Upon weaning, both dams' and pups' anxiety-like behavior and serum escitalopram levels were assessed. The major findings of the current study show that both agents moderated the antenatal stress-induced transgenerational transference of anxiety by ameliorating dams' anxiety. Interestingly though, pups' exposure to escitalopram via lactation was exacerbated by antenatal stress. The latter finding provides a significant insight into the mechanism of lactation-driven exposure to xenobiotics and calls for a further consideration vis-à-vis the administration of other drugs during breastfeeding.
母体应激对母亲和孩子都有不良影响，包括增加焦虑的风险。当前的 COVID-19 大流行加剧了这些现象，因此迫切需要进一步探索和验证可行的治疗选择。与临床研究的漫长性质不同，动物模型可以提供快速的证据。母亲使用选择性 5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂 (SSRIs) 是治疗的突出候选者，这些药物据称可以适应母体功能，从而也保护孩子。然而，SSRIs 可能会产生有害影响。重要的是要评估 SSRIs 和其他药物治疗是否可以通过缓解母体焦虑来调节焦虑的转移，并检查通过哺乳使后代接触药物的程度。据我们所知，产前应激是否会加剧 SSRIs 通过哺乳暴露的可能性尚未得到检验。30 只 ICR 远交系雌性小鼠在妊娠期暴露于应激下，随后在哺乳期给予 SSRIs 依地普仑或新型草药候选物山楂。断奶后，评估了母鼠和幼鼠的焦虑样行为和血清依地普仑水平。目前研究的主要发现表明，这两种药物都通过改善母体焦虑来调节产前应激引起的跨代焦虑转移。然而，有趣的是，通过哺乳，产前应激使幼鼠对依地普仑的暴露增加。后一种发现为了解哺乳驱动的外源性物质暴露的机制提供了重要的见解，并呼吁在母乳喂养期间进一步考虑其他药物的使用。
