title: Sex-dependent changes induced by prenatal stress in cortical and hippocampal morphology and behaviour in rats: an update.
abstract: Recent prospective studies have shown that gestational stress in humans is more likely to cause cognitive and emotional problems in the offspring if it occurs during weeks 12-20 of pregnancy. There are also suggestions that such problems may be gender dependent. This review describes recent studies that found sex differences in the behaviour and brain morphology of rats stressed prenatally during the equivalent period of neuronal development in humans. Learning deficits are more prevalent in males and anxious behaviour in females but their appearance depends also on the timing and intensity of the stress and the age when the offspring were tested. Cognitive deficits and anxiety are linked to a sex-dependent reduction in neurogenesis and in measures of dendritic morphology in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampal formation. Maternal adrenalectomy prior to the stress prevents the anxiety in both sexes and learning deficits in males. Corticosterone administration to the dam to mimic levels induced by stress reinstates only the anxiety, indicating that it arises from foetal exposure to corticosterone from the maternal circulation. Learning deficits in males may result from a combination of a reduction in testosterone and in aromatase activity, together with the action of other adrenal hormones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Drug Research, Hebrew University Medical Centre, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel. martar@ekmd.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weinstock
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D001141:Aromatase / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003345:Corticosterone; D003712:Dendrites / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000254:growth & development*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone; D001141:Aromatase; D003345:Corticosterone