title: Psychological or physical prenatal stress differentially affects cognition behaviors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prenatal stress is proposed as a major risk factor in the development of cognitive impairments in the offspring. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of prenatal physical or psychological stress on the motor and cognitive functions of male and female offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult female rats were stressed during their conception using a novel method to induced whether physical or psychological stress. Animal offspring were then kept until adulthood. Elevated plus maze (EPM) was used to evaluate their anxiety-like behavior. Rotarod and wire grip were used to evaluate muscle strength and balance function. Morris water maze (MWM) and passive avoidance (PA) learning and memory paradigm were used to evaluate the cognitive function of the offspring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Female offspring of both physical and psychological stress had an increased anxiety-like behavior in the EPM test in comparison to female control rats. Balance function was impaired in physical stressed female offspring in comparison to the control and male offspring. Muscle strength was reduced in physical male and female offspring. Both male and female offspring groups that underwent prenatal physical and psychological stress had an impaired spatial learning and memory. PA learning and memory were impaired in both male and female offspring except for the psychological stress female offspring in PA learning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of our study revealed that prenatal physical or psychological stress have different effects on motor and cognitive functions of the offspring. Male and female offspring were differentially affected by prenatal stress. We suggest more studies to evaluate the role of sex hormones on the effects of prenatal physical or psychological stress on cognitive and motor functions of the offspring.
authors: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors: Masoud
authors: M
authors: Nazeri
authors: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Electronic address: shabanimoh@yahoo.com.
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Shabani
authors: Department of Biology, Islamic Azad University of Jahrom, Fars, Iran.
authors: Samaneh
authors: S
authors: Ghotbi Ravandi
authors: Guilan Road Trauma Research Center, Poursina Hospital, Guilan University of Medical Science, Rasht, Iran.
authors: Iraj
authors: I
authors: Aghaei
authors: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors: Masoumeh
authors: M
authors: Nozari
authors: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors: Shahrzad
authors: S
authors: Mazhari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D045442:Rotarod Performance Test; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013315:Stress, Psychological
keywords: Cognitive function; Offspring; Prenatal physical stress; Psychological stress