Prenatal morphine exposure differentially alters TH-immunoreactivity in the stress-sensitive brain circuitry of adult male and female rats.
Previously, we demonstrated that exposure to morphine during gestation increases hypothalamic norepinephrine (NE) content and turnover rate in adult male rats and decreases these measures in adult females. To investigate the basis of these alterations, the present study examined the effects of prenatal exposure to morphine on tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity (TH-IR) in the brains of adult male and female progeny. In male rats, prenatal morphine exposure significantly increased the density of TH-IR in cells and fibers in the caudal paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and locus coeruleus (LC), but had no effects in the lateral hypothalamus (LH). In female rats that were ovariectomized (OVX), prenatal morphine exposure significantly decreased the density of TH-IR in cells and fibers in the LC. Interestingly, an injection of estrogen in OVX control females reduced the mean optical density of TH-IR in the LC, but it was ineffective in drug-exposed females in the same brain region. Estrogen injections also reduced the mean optical density of TH-IR in the LH but not in the PVN of females, regardless of prenatal drug exposure. Thus, the present study suggests that prenatal morphine exposure induces long-term, sex-specific alterations in TH-IR in the PVN and LC of adult progeny.
Vathy
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Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. vathy@aecom.yu.edu
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Hnatczuk
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D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology*; D004958:Estradiol / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000201:enzymology; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009294:Narcotics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000201:enzymology; D010052:Ovariectomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000201:enzymology*; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism*
D009294:Narcotics; D004958:Estradiol; D009020:Morphine; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase