Evaluating the interaction between early postnatal inflammation and maternal care in the programming of adult anxiety and depression-related behaviors.
The perinatal development of the nervous system is influenced by different external and internal stimuli. Previous data show that maternal care and perinatal inflammation can induce long-term changes in anxiety- and depression-related behavior. Our hypothesis is that both maternal care and perinatal inflammation act through interacting biological pathways to program adult behavior. To evaluate this interaction, we combined a protocol of maternal care variation in mice (C57BL/6J x BALB/c reciprocal F1 offspring) with the administration of bacterial wall lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at a previously reported sensitive development age (postnatal day 3, P3). The analysis of maternal behavior revealed that pups from C57BL/6J dams received more maternal attention than those taken care by BALB/c dams. Pups receiving LPS at P3 showed an acute corticosterone response, and a dose-dependent desensitization of this hormonal response when challenged with LPS at adulthood. We analyzed adult behavior on 6 highly validated tests and found an interaction between maternal care and early postnatal LPS on 7 anxiety-related behaviors in 4 different tests. In particular, early postnatal LPS treatment resulted in higher anxiety-related behavior when administered to females receiving more maternal care (C57 pedigree), but reduced depression-related behavior in males of the same pedigree. These results suggest that specific coping strategies are sensitive to maternal care and/or postnatal inflammation programming of adult anxiety- and depression-related behaviors, suggesting that both divergent and convergent mechanisms participate in this programming.
Lucchina
Luciana
L
Instituto de Fisiolologia, Biologia Molecular y Neurociencias, CONICET-UBA, C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Carola
Valeria
V
Pitossi
Fernando
F
Depino
Amaicha Mara
AM
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001007:Anxiety / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000378:metabolism; D003863:Depression / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007249:Inflammation / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011897:Random Allocation; D012737:Sex Factors
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D003345:Corticosterone