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Vilela-Costa HH, Hernandes PM, Nascimento-Silva JM, Frias AT, Almada RC, Lovick TA, Zangrossi H. Neonatal limited bedding and nesting experience may lead to a sex-dependent increase in panic-like defensive behaviours in adult mice. Eur J Neurosci 2024. [PMID: 39245966 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Revised: 07/11/2024] [Accepted: 08/27/2024] [Indexed: 09/10/2024]
Abstract
In humans, adverse physical and/or psychological traumas in childhood may predispose to developing psychiatric disorders in adulthood, including panic disorder. To model early life adversity in mice, we subjected male and female C57BL/6 J mice to a limited bedding and nesting (LBN) protocol between postnatal days 2-9 and investigated its effect on responsiveness to panicogenic challenges in adulthood. Panic-like escape behaviour was assessed during exposure to a high concentration of CO2 (20%) or in the beetle mania task (BMT), used to model respiratory and non-respiratory-related types of panic respectively. Neonatal exposure to LBN increased panic-like jumping during the CO2 challenge in male but not female mice. In an initial pharmacological validation of the BMT as a panic-inducing paradigm, undirected jumping and horizontal escape behaviours were reduced significantly by the panicolytic alprazolam (0.05 and 0.1mg.kg-1 i.p.) whilst tolerance to the close proximity of the aversive robo-beetle increased. The anxiolytic diazepam (1 mg.kg-1 i.p.) reduced only the number of horizontal escape attempts. In both sexes, previous experience of LBN significantly enhanced the number of horizontal escape episodes, indicating a pro-panic phenotype. Directed escape to access a safe ledge on the wall of the test arena, which was seen only in males, was also reduced significantly following LBN. These findings indicate that early life adversity produced by fragmented and unpredictable maternal care promotes a sex-specific increase in susceptibility to panic-like behaviour in adulthood. Whilst non-respiratory-related panic-like behaviour was enhanced in both sexes, females were resilient to respiratory-related challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heloisa Helena Vilela-Costa
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
- Department of Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute of Biological and Natural Sciences, Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Paloma Molina Hernandes
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Alana Tercino Frias
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
- Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, College of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University, Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Rafael Carvalho Almada
- Department of Biological Sciences, School of Sciences, Humanities and Languages of the São Paulo State University (UNESP), Assis, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Helio Zangrossi
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
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Gibson AG, Moenter SM. Early-Life Resource Scarcity in Mice Does Not Alter Adult Corticosterone or Preovulatory Luteinizing Hormone Surge Responses to Acute Psychosocial Stress. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0125-24.2024. [PMID: 39009448 PMCID: PMC11287788 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0125-24.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2024] [Revised: 06/27/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Early-life stressors can affect reproductive development and change responses to adult stress. We tested if resource scarcity in the form of limited bedding and nesting (LBN) from postnatal days (PND) 4 to 11 delayed sexual maturation in male and female mice and/or altered the response to an acute, layered, psychosocial stress (ALPS) in adulthood. Contrary to the hypotheses, age and mass at puberty were unaffected by the present application of LBN. Under basal conditions and after ALPS, corticosterone concentrations in males, diestrous females, and proestrous females reared in standard (STD) or LBN environments were similar. ALPS disrupts the luteinizing hormone (LH) surge in most mice when applied on the morning of proestrus; this effect was not changed by resource scarcity. In this study, the paucity of effects in the offspring may relate to a milder response of CBA dams to the paradigm. While LBN dams exited the nest more often and their offspring were smaller than STD-reared offspring on PND11, dam corticosterone concentrations were similar on PND11. To test if ALPS disrupts the LH surge by blunting the increase in excitatory GABAergic input to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons on the afternoon of proestrus, we conducted whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings. The frequency of GABAergic postsynaptic currents in GnRH neurons was not altered by LBN, ALPS, or their interaction. It remains possible that ALPS acts at afferents of GnRH neurons, changes response of GnRH neurons to input, and/or alters pituitary responsiveness to GnRH and that a more pronounced resource scarcity would affect the parameters studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda G Gibson
- Neurocience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5622
| | - Suzanne M Moenter
- Departments of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5622
- Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5622
- Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5622
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Medina-Saldivar C, Cruz-Visalaya S, Zevallos-Arias A, Pardo GVE, Pacheco-Otálora LF. Differential effect of chronic mild stress on anxiety and depressive-like behaviors in three strains of male and female laboratory mice. Behav Brain Res 2024; 460:114829. [PMID: 38141784 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114829] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023]
Abstract
Major depressive disorder is the most common psychiatric disorder worldwide. To understand mechanisms and search for new approaches to treating depression, animal models are crucial. Chronic mild stress (CMS) is the most used animal model of depression. Although CMS is considered a robust model of depression, conflicting results have been reported for emotion-related behaviors, which the intrinsic characteristics of each rodent strain could explain. To further shed light on the impact of genetic background on the relevant parameters commonly addressed in depression, we examined the effect of 4-weeks CMS on anxiety and depression-related behaviors and body weight gain in three strain mice (BALB/c, C57BL/6, and CD1) of both sexes. CMS reduced body weight gain in C57BL/6NCrl and CD1 male mice. C57BL/6 animals exhibited a more pronounced anxious-like behavior than CD1 and BALB/c mice in the light-dark box (LDB) and the elevated plus maze (EPM) tests, whereas BALB/c animals exhibited the more robust depressive-like phenotype in the splash test (ST), tail suspension test (TST) and forced-swimming test (FST). Under CMS, exposure did not affect anxiety-related behaviors in any strain but induced depression-like behaviors strain-dependently. CMS C57BL/6 and CD1 mice of both sexes showed depression-like behaviors, and CMS BALB/c male mice exhibited reduced depressive behaviors in the FST. These results suggest a differential effect of stress, with the C57BL/6 strain being more vulnerable to stress than the CD1 and BALB/c strain mice. Furthermore, our findings emphasize the need for researchers to consider mouse strains and behavioral tests in their CMS experimental designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Medina-Saldivar
- Laboratorio de Investigación en Neurociencia, Instituto Científico, Universidad Andina del Cusco, Cuzco, Peru
| | - Sergio Cruz-Visalaya
- Laboratorio de Investigación en Neurociencia, Instituto Científico, Universidad Andina del Cusco, Cuzco, Peru
| | - Anzu Zevallos-Arias
- Laboratorio de Investigación en Neurociencia, Instituto Científico, Universidad Andina del Cusco, Cuzco, Peru
| | - Grace V E Pardo
- Laboratorio de Investigación en Neurociencia, Instituto Científico, Universidad Andina del Cusco, Cuzco, Peru.
| | - Luis F Pacheco-Otálora
- Laboratorio de Investigación en Neurociencia, Instituto Científico, Universidad Andina del Cusco, Cuzco, Peru
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