title: Cognitive, emotional and neurochemical effects of repeated maternal separation in adolescent rats.
abstract: As an adverse early life experience, maternal separation (MS) induces profound neurochemical, cognitive and emotional dysfunction. Previous studies have reported that MS affected prepulse inhibition (PPI), anxiety-related behaviors, dopaminergic and serotonergic activity in adult rats, and in the present study, we investigated the effects of repeated (4h/day) maternal separation during postnatal days 1-21 on PPI and anxiety-related behaviors in an elevated plus maze, as well as dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) and 5-HT1A receptor expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc) and hippocampus in adolescent rats. Our findings show that repeated MS results in reduced PPI, increased anxiety-related behaviors, decreased DRD2 protein expression in the NAc and hippocampus, and decreased 5-HT1A protein expression in the mPFC and hippocampus in adolescent rats. These data further demonstrate that MS can be used as an animal model of neuropsychiatric disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Man
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Weiwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D044282:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT1A / Q000378:metabolism; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; D044282:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT1A