title: Neonatal separation stress reduces glial fibrillary acidic protein- and S100beta-immunoreactive astrocytes in the rat medial precentral cortex.
abstract: The interactions between the mother/parents and their offspring provides socioemotional input, which is essential for the establishment and maintenance of synaptic networks in prefrontal and limbic brain regions. Since glial cells are known to play an important role in developmental and experience-driven synaptic plasticity, the effect of an early adverse emotional experience induced by maternal separation for 1 or 6 h on the expression of the glia specific proteins S100beta and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was quantitatively analyzed in anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and precentral medial cortex. Three animal groups were analyzed at postnatal day 14: (i) separated for 1 h; (ii) separated for 6 h; (iii) undisturbed (control). Twenty-four hours after stress exposure, the stressed brains showed significantly reduced numbers of S100beta-immunoreactive (ir) cells in the anterior cingulate cortex (6-h stress) and in the precentral medial cortex (1- and 6-h stress). Significantly reduced numbers of GFAP-ir cells were observed only in the medial precentral cortex (1- and 6-h stress); no significant changes were observed in the anterior cingulate cortex. No significant changes of the two glial markers were observed in the hippocampus. Double-labeling experiments with GFAP and pCREB revealed pCREB labeling only in the hippocampus, where the stressed brains (1 and 6 h) displayed significantly reduced numbers of GFAP/pCREB-ir glial cells. The observed downregulation of glia-specific marker proteins is in line with our hypothesis that emotional experience can alter glia cell activation in the juvenile limbic system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Musholt
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cirillo
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cavaliere
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosaria Bianco
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helmeke
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D009418:S100 Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D009418:S100 Proteins