0000000001005396
AUTHOR
R. A. M. Marino
Impact of a single, intense prenatal stress on ethanol drinking behaviour and cognition in adult male rats
Early exposure to stressful stimuli is crucial for developing varied behavioural patterns in adulthood such as anxiety, cognitive dysfunction and abuse disorders. The alteration of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis represents the neurobiological substrate responsible of the behavioural consequences of prenatal stress (PS). Indeed, prenatal manipulation of the HPA axis impacts on cognitive performance of the adult offspring, but also on vulnerability to alcohol consumption. Prenatal acute, moderate restraint stress has proved to facilitate HPA axis development of the offspring, since maternal corticosterone secretion leads to the reduction of anxiogenic behaviour and an improveme…
Brief maternal separation procedures occurring early in life affect learning and memory in adult Wistar rats: sex-related differences in cognitive behaviour
Adverse life events during the neonatal period result in long-term effects on physiology and behavior. Early postnatal experiences, such as a modification of the mother–infant interaction, may influence the development of neural systems that underlie the expression of neuroendocrine and behavioural responses to environmental challenges. The present study was carried out to investigate the consequences of a brief, maternal separation on declarative and spatial memory, focusing on sex related alteration due to the discrete effects that hormones may play on the brain circuits. Our results indicate that a brief, daily maternal separation results in sexually-dimorphic cognitive alterations that …