title: Adrenal response of male rats exposed to prenatal stress and early postnatal stimulation.
abstract: Stress in pregnant rats caused by chronic immobilization alters the pattern of secretion of corticosterone and modifies the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) of the fetus. Early postnatal handling, however, may reverse the effects of increased secretion of corticosterone. We investigated the effects of prenatal stress and postnatal handling on the activity of the HPA axis of male offspring of stressed female rats. Male 90-day-old rats from four groups were investigated: prenatally stressed animals without postnatal handling, prenatally stressed animals with postnatal handling, unstressed control animals with postnatal handling, and unstressed control animals without postnatal handling. After sacrifice, the adrenal glands were weighed to determine the adrenal-somatic index. Apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL assay and active caspase-3 expression. We found that the adrenal gland cortex:medulla ratio increased in animals with prenatal stress and that eventually the stress caused apoptosis. Handling newborns to simulate maternal activity ameliorated some of the negative effects of prenatal stress.
authors: Department of Molecular Biology, School of Exact, Physical-Chemical and Natural Sciences, National University of Río Cuarto , Río Cuarto , Argentina.
authors: A C
authors: AC
authors: Liaudat
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Rodríguez
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Chen
authors: M C
authors: MC
authors: Romanini
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Vivas
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Rolando
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Gauna
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Mayer
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D017209:Apoptosis; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012149:Restraint, Physical / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000502:physiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3; D003345:Corticosterone
keywords: adrenal gland; apoptosis; handling; hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; immobilization; prenatal stress; rats