TY - JOUR
T1 - Alterations in ‘inflammatory’ pathways in the rat prefrontal cortex as early biological predictors of the long-term negative consequences of exposure to stress early in life
AU - Lopizzo, Nicola
AU - Mazzelli, Monica
AU - Zonca, Valentina
AU - Begni, Veronica
AU - D'Aprile, Ilari
AU - Cattane, Nadia
AU - Pariante, Carmine M.
AU - Riva, Marco A.
AU - Cattaneo, Annamaria
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by an ERANET Neuron grant to AC. AC and NC received also support from Ricerca Corrente (Italian Ministry of Health, MoH).This work was supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of University and Research to Prof. Riva. (PRIN ? grants number 2015SKN9YT and 2017AY8BP4 and PON ?Ricerca e Innovazione? PerMedNet -project ARS01_01226) and from Fondazione CARIPLO (grant number 2012-0503) to Prof. Riva.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of University and Research to Prof. Riva. (PRIN – grants number 2015SKN9YT and 2017AY8BP4 and PON “Ricerca e Innovazione” PerMedNet -project ARS01_01226) and from Fondazione CARIPLO (grant number 2012-0503 ) to Prof. Riva.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by an ERANET Neuron grant to AC. AC and NC received also support from Ricerca Corrente (Italian Ministry of Health, MoH) .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Early life stress, especially when experienced during the first period of life, affects the brain developmental trajectories leading to an enhanced vulnerability for stress-related psychiatric disorders later in life. Although both clinical and preclinical studies clearly support this association, the biological pathways deregulated by such exposure, and the effects in shaping the neurodevelopmental trajectories, have so far been poorly investigated. By using the prenatal stress (PNS) model, a well-established rat model of early life stress, we performed transcriptomic analyses in the prefrontal cortex of rats exposed or not to PNS and sacrificed at different postnatal days (PNDs 21, 40, 62). We first investigated the long-lasting mechanisms and pathways affected in the PFC. We have decided to focus on the prefrontal cortex because we have previously shown that this brain region is highly sensitive to PNS exposure. We found that adult animals exposed to PNS show alterations in 389 genes, mainly involved in stress and inflammatory signalling. We then wanted to establish whether PNS exposure could also affect the neurodevelopmental trajectories in order to identify the most critical temporal window. We found that PNS rats show the most significant changes during adolescence (between PND 40 versus PND 21), with alterations of several pathways related to stress, inflammation and metabolism, which were maintained until adulthood.
AB - Early life stress, especially when experienced during the first period of life, affects the brain developmental trajectories leading to an enhanced vulnerability for stress-related psychiatric disorders later in life. Although both clinical and preclinical studies clearly support this association, the biological pathways deregulated by such exposure, and the effects in shaping the neurodevelopmental trajectories, have so far been poorly investigated. By using the prenatal stress (PNS) model, a well-established rat model of early life stress, we performed transcriptomic analyses in the prefrontal cortex of rats exposed or not to PNS and sacrificed at different postnatal days (PNDs 21, 40, 62). We first investigated the long-lasting mechanisms and pathways affected in the PFC. We have decided to focus on the prefrontal cortex because we have previously shown that this brain region is highly sensitive to PNS exposure. We found that adult animals exposed to PNS show alterations in 389 genes, mainly involved in stress and inflammatory signalling. We then wanted to establish whether PNS exposure could also affect the neurodevelopmental trajectories in order to identify the most critical temporal window. We found that PNS rats show the most significant changes during adolescence (between PND 40 versus PND 21), with alterations of several pathways related to stress, inflammation and metabolism, which were maintained until adulthood.
KW - Childhood trauma
KW - Early life stress
KW - Inflammation
KW - Metabolism
KW - Transcriptomic profile
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099189500&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104794
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104794
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099189500
SN - 0306-4530
VL - 124
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
M1 - 104794
ER -