title: Disrupted Circadian Rhythm as a Common Player in Developmental Models of Neuropsychiatric Disorders.
abstract: The environment in which individuals develop and mature is critical for their physiological and psychological outcome; in particular, the intrauterine environment has reached far more clinical relevance given its potential influence on shaping brain function and thus mental health. Gestational stress and/or maternal infection during pregnancy has been related with an increased incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia. In this framework, the use of animal models has allowed a formal and deep investigation of causal determinants. Despite disruption of circadian clocks often represents a hallmark of several neuropsychiatric disorders, the relationship between disruption of brain development and the circadian system has been scarcely investigated. Nowadays, there is an increasing amount of studies suggesting a link between circadian system malfunction, early-life insults and the appearance of neuropsychiatric diseases at adulthood. Here, we briefly review evidence from clinical literature and animal models suggesting that the exposure to prenatal insults, i.e. severe gestational stress or maternal immune activation, changes the foetal hormonal milieu increasing the circulating levels of both glucocorticoids and pro-inflammatory cytokines. These two biological events have been reported to affect genes expression in experimental models and critically interfere with brain development triggering and/or exacerbating behavioural anomalies in the offspring. Herein, we highlight the importance to unravel the individual components of the body circadian system that might also be altered by prenatal insults and that may be causally associated with the disruption of neural and endocrine developmental programming.
authors.affiliation: Department Physiology (Animal Physiology II), Faculty of Biological Sciences, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), 28040, Madrid, Spain. emmarco@bio.ucm.es.
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Marco
authors.affiliation: Department Basic Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Universidad Europea (UE), Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Velarde
authors.affiliation: Department Basic Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Universidad Europea (UE), Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Llorente
authors.affiliation: Section of Behavioral Neuroscience, Department Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. giovanni.laviola@iss.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Laviola
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D021081:Chronobiology Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Animal models; Clock genes; Early-life stress; Immune activation; Prenatal