title: A self-medication hypothesis for increased vulnerability to drug abuse in prenatally restraint stressed rats.
abstract: Stress-related events that occur in the perinatal period can permanently change brain and behavior of the developing individual and there is increasing evidence that early-life adversity is a contributing factor in the etiology of drug abuse and mood disorders. Neural adaptations resulting from early-life stress may mediate individual differences in novelty responsiveness and in turn contribute to drug abuse vulnerability. Prenatal restraint stress (PRS) in rats is a well-documented model of early stress known to induce long-lasting neurobiological and behavioral alterations including impaired feedback mechanisms of the HPA axis, enhanced novelty seeking, and increased sensitiveness to psychostimulants as well as anxiety/depression-like behavior. Together with the HPA axis, functional alterations of the mesolimbic dopamine system and of the metabotropic glutamate receptors system appear to be involved in the addiction-like profile of PRS rats.
authors.affiliation: International Associated Laboratory (LIA) "Prenatal Stress and Neurodegenerative Diseases", UMR8576 University Lille 1/CNRS, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France and Sapienza University of Rome/IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy.
authors.forename: Marie-Line
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Reynaert
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marrocco
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gatta
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mairesse
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Camp
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fagioli
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maccari
authors.forename: Ferdinando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morley-Fletcher