Maternal social stress during pregnancy alters immune function and immune cell numbers in adult male Long-Evans rat offspring during stressful life-events.
The impact of social confrontations on distribution and function of blood immune cells in adult male rat offspring from stressed and non-stressed pregnancies was studied. Repeated 2 h resident-intruder confrontations were performed on ten consecutive days using a protective cage. Prenatally stressed intruder males (PSI) had a generally lower number of neutrophiles, monocytes, T and NK cells and reduced lymphocyte proliferation in whole blood cultures than prenatally non-stressed control intruders (PCI). Differences also existed in the temporal dynamics of immunological changes. On confrontation day 1, stress-induced reductions in lymphocyte and monocyte numbers but increased granulocyte counts were observed in both groups. However, only PCI showed a partial recovery of T cell and monocyte numbers on confrontation day 10 and a full restoration in all immune cell numbers 5 days post-confrontation. Thus, the immunological response to a psychosocial stressor in adult rats can be modified by the mothers' exposure to stress during pregnancy.
Götz
Alexander A
AA
Department of Animal Physiology, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany. Alexander.Goetz@uni-bayreuth.de
Wittlinger
Sabrina
S
Stefanski
Volker
V
D000818:Animals; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001835:Body Weight; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*
D003345:Corticosterone