Prenatal stress is associated with depression-related electroencephalographic sleep changes in adult male rats: a preliminary report.
1. Prenatal stress in rats has been shown to produce long-term behavioral, neuroendocrine and neurochemical changes. These changes may model aspects of human depressive illness. 2. In this pilot investigation, adult male offspring exposed to stress in utero and non-stressed controls were studied using 24-hour electroencephalographic sleep recordings. 3. Prenatally stressed animals demonstrated reduced latency to the onset of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, prolongation of the first REM episode, and diminished slow-wave sleep. 4. Although preliminary, the observed changes parallel those seen in studies of human depression. These data further support the face validity of the prenatal stress model as a potential tool for future studies on the pathophysiology of depressive disorder.
Rao
U
U
Department of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine, USA.
McGinty
D J
DJ
Shinde
A
A
McCracken
J T
JT
Poland
R E
RE
D000818:Animals; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017286:Polysomnography; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*