Multifactorial regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis during development

Enduring Neurobiological Consequences of Early-Life Stress: Insights from Rodent Behavioral Paradigms

Stress profoundly affects physical and mental health, particularly when experienced early in life. Early-life stress (ELS) encompasses adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, violence, or chronic poverty. These stressors can induce long-lasting changes in brain structure and function, impacting areas involved in emotion regulation, cognition, and stress response. Consequently, individuals exposed to high levels of ELS are at an increased risk for mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders, as well as physical health issues, including metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. This review explores the biological and psychological consequences of early-life adversity paradigms in rodents, such as maternal separation or deprivation and limited bedding or nesting. The study of these experimental models have revealed that the organism's response to ELS is complex, involving genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, and is associated with the dysregulation of physiological systems like the nervous, neuroendocrine, and immune systems, in a sex-dependent fashion. Understanding the impact of ELS is crucial for developing effective interventions and preventive strategies in humans exposed to stressful or traumatic experiences in childhood.

Exploring the role of environmental enrichment and early life adversity on emotional development

Early life adversity has been linked with a higher probability of developing behavioral impairments and environmental manipulation is a strategy that may reduce the negative effects of exposure to adversity in early life. Here, we focused on exploring the influence of environmental enrichment (EE) as a protective factor in the context of early life adversity. We hypothesized that 24 hours of maternal deprivation (MD), in the second week of life, could induce anxiety-like behavior alterations and that exposure to EE could induce resilience to these behaviors due to alterations in the serotonergic system. Male Wistar rats were exposed to MD, on postnatal days 11 and 13, and to EE, after weaning. In adulthood, we performed a series of behavioral tests for fear, anxiety, and locomotor activity. We also measured the levels of serotonin in the amygdala and dorsal raphe nucleus. Our results revealed that MD does not impact fear behavior or the levels of serotonin, while EE decreases locomotor activity in a novel environment and enhances exploration in the predator odor test. EE also decreases serotonin in the amygdala and increases its turnover rate levels. Our findings provide insights into the critical timeframe during which stress exposure impacts the development and confirm that exposure to EE has an independent and protective effect for anxiety-like behaviors later in life.

Dynamic developmental changes in neurotransmitters supporting infant attachment learning

Infant survival relies on rapid identification, remembering and behavioral responsiveness to caregivers' sensory cues. While neural circuits supporting infant attachment learning have largely remained elusive in children, use of invasive techniques has uncovered some of its features in rodents. During a 10-day sensitive period from birth, newborn rodents associate maternal odors with maternal pleasant or noxious thermo-tactile stimulation, which gives rise to a preference and approach behavior towards these odors, and blockade of avoidance learning. Here we review the neural circuitry supporting this neonatal odor learning, unique compared to adults, focusing specifically on the early roles of neurotransmitters such as glutamate, GABA (Gamma-AminoButyric Acid), serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, in the olfactory bulb, the anterior piriform cortex and amygdala. The review highlights the importance of deepening our knowledge of age-specific infant brain neurotransmitters and behavioral functioning that can be translated to improve the well-being of children during typical development and aid in treatment during atypical development in childhood clinical practice, and the care during rearing of domestic animals.

Adult Health and Early Life Adversity: Behind the Curtains of Maternal Care Research

The quality of one's adult health and the chances of maintaining cognitive ability in aging stem directly from the quality of care one receives as an infant. Formal studies of maternal care can be traced back at least a century. Revelations of behavioral outcomes after maternal deprivation in primates were followed by discoveries of systemic and brain growth factors mediated by the caregiver-offspring relationship in rodents. More recently, much of the genetic/epigenetic bases of maternal care has been defined and positively linked to adult health and cognitive ability in senescence. The history of this field is both tragic and fascinating. The early primate work, while informative, was abusive. The initial rodent work was ridiculed before its importance was recognized. The final lesson learned is that infant/toddler care matters a lot. Today, we have a better understanding of the biology underlying maternal care and its transmission across generations as well as a scientific basis for massaging premature infants and hugging our children.

Infection in the Developing Brain: The Role of Unique Systemic Immune Vulnerabilities

Central nervous system (CNS) infections remain a major burden of pediatric disease associated with significant long-term morbidity due to injury to the developing brain. Children are susceptible to various etiologies of CNS infection partly because of vulnerabilities in their peripheral immune system. Young children are known to have reduced numbers and functionality of innate and adaptive immune cells, poorer production of immune mediators, impaired responses to inflammatory stimuli and depressed antibody activity in comparison to adults. This has implications not only for their response to pathogen invasion, but also for the development of appropriate vaccines and vaccination strategies. Further, pediatric immune characteristics evolve across the span of childhood into adolescence as their broader physiological and hormonal landscape develop. In addition to intrinsic vulnerabilities, children are subject to external factors that impact their susceptibility to infections, including maternal immunity and exposure, and nutrition. In this review we summarize the current evidence for immune characteristics across childhood that render children at risk for CNS infection and introduce the link with the CNS through the modulatory role that the brain has on the immune response. This manuscript lays the foundation from which we explore the specifics of infection and inflammation within the CNS and the consequences to the maturing brain in part two of this review series.

Glucocorticoid-Mediated Developmental Programming of Vertebrate Stress Responsivity

Glucocorticoids, vertebrate steroid hormones produced by cells of the adrenal cortex or interrenal tissue, function dynamically to maintain homeostasis under constantly changing and occasionally stressful environmental conditions. They do so by binding and thereby activating nuclear receptor transcription factors, the Glucocorticoid and Mineralocorticoid Receptors (MR and GR, respectively). The GR, by virtue of its lower affinity for endogenous glucocorticoids (cortisol or corticosterone), is primarily responsible for transducing the dynamic signals conveyed by circadian and ultradian glucocorticoid oscillations as well as transient pulses produced in response to acute stress. These dynamics are important determinants of stress responsivity, and at the systemic level are produced by feedforward and feedback signaling along the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal/interrenal axis. Within receiving cells, GR signaling dynamics are controlled by the GR target gene and negative feedback regulator fkpb5. Chronic stress can alter signaling dynamics via imperfect physiological adaptation that changes systemic and/or cellular set points, resulting in chronically elevated cortisol levels and increased allostatic load, which undermines health and promotes development of disease. When this occurs during early development it can "program" the responsivity of the stress system, with persistent effects on allostatic load and disease susceptibility. An important question concerns the glucocorticoid-responsive gene regulatory network that contributes to such programming. Recent studies show that klf9, a ubiquitously expressed GR target gene that encodes a Krüppel-like transcription factor important for metabolic plasticity and neuronal differentiation, is a feedforward regulator of GR signaling impacting cellular glucocorticoid responsivity, suggesting that it may be a critical node in that regulatory network.

Early life stress alters emotional learning in a sex- and age-dependent manner with no impact on emotional behaviors

Neonatal adversity can impact neurodevelopmental trajectories. This study examined the long-term effects of maternal deprivation on day 9 (DEP9), associated or not to a stressor (saline injection [SAL]), on contextual fear conditioning (Experiment 1) and emotional behaviors (Experiment 2) in Wistar rats. Whole litters were either assigned to DEP9 or control groups, and on day 10, half of the litters in each group received an SAL or not (NSAL). DEP9-SAL male adolescents showed the longest freezing time and DEP9 adult males froze more than females. Females exhibited less anxiety-like behavior than males; DEP9-SAL females spent more time in the open arms and DEP9 males visited less the extremity of the open arm in the elevated plus maze. Early life stress increased conditioned and innate fear in males, but not in females, indicating a clear sexual dimorphism in the response to potentially threatening stimuli.

Behavioral and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Early Interventions in Adult Wistar Rats

Introduction

Interventions performed in the early period of life are associated with cognitive and behavioral changes in adulthood. The effects of interventions such as exposure to an early stressful life event or environmental enrichment on cognitive and behavioral development are studied. The aim of this study is to develop a new intervention method, to investigate the effects of early interventions on social interaction, memory anxiety levels and NR2B levels in prefrontal and hippocampus in adulthood. The hypothesis of the study is that exposure to the ambivalent mother will affect the behavioral performance of rats at least as much as one hour apart from the mother in the adult period and cause changes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in the NR2B levels.

Method

In the study, the Wistar rats were divided into four groups as control group (12), group that remained 15 minutes apart from mother (Mild Stress) (12), group that remained 60 minutes apart from mother (Severe Stress) (14) and ambivalent mother group (13). In adulthood, the social interaction test, elevated plus maze and new object recognition test performances of rats were evaluated. ELISA method was used to evaluate the effect of interventions on the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus NMDA R2B levels.

Results

The important findings of the study were that in the new object recognition test, separation from the mother did not affect the recognition memory regardless of gender, while the short-term recognition memory of the females of the ambivalent mothers' group was better than the females in the other groups and the long-term memory performance of the mild stress groups men was better than the man in the other groups. In addition, in the social interaction test, the males of the ambivalent group and the mild stress group showed more aggressive behavior. It was determined that the prefrontal cortex NR2B level was higher in the mild stress and ambivalent mother group compared to the severe stress group, and NR2B level was increased in all intervention groups compared to the control group.

Conclusion

In contrast to the hypothesis, the results of this study support that the ambivalent mother's group rats are not more adversely affected than the severe group rats and that the model created may be an environmental enrichment model rather than an early stressful life event exposure.

Aberrant Early in Life Stimulation of the Stress-Response System Affects Emotional Contagion and Oxytocin Regulation in Adult Male Mice

Results over the last decades have provided evidence suggesting that HPA axis dysfunction is a major risk factor predisposing to the development of psychopathological behaviour. This susceptibility can be programmed during developmental windows of marked neuroplasticity, allowing early-life adversity to convey vulnerability to mental illness later in life. Besides genetic predisposition, also environmental factors play a pivotal role in this process, through embodiment of the mother's emotions, or via nutrients and hormones transferred through the placenta and the maternal milk. The aim of the current translational study was to mimic a severe stress condition by exposing female CD-1 mouse dams to abnormal levels of corticosterone (80 µg/mL) in the drinking water either during the last week of pregnancy (PreCORT) or the first one of lactation (PostCORT), compared to an Animal Facility Rearing (AFR) control group. When tested as adults, male mice from PostCORT offspring and somewhat less the PreCORT mice exhibited a markedly increased corticosterone response to acute restraint stress, compared to perinatal AFR controls. Aberrant persistence of adolescence-typical increased interest towards novel social stimuli and somewhat deficient emotional contagion also characterised profiles in both perinatal-CORT groups. Intranasal oxytocin (0 or 20.0 µg/kg) generally managed to reduce the stress response and restore a regular behavioural phenotype. Alterations in density of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors, oxytocin and µ- and κ-opioid receptors were found. Changes differed as a function of brain areas and the specific age window of perinatal aberrant stimulation of the HPA axis. Present results provided experimental evidence in a translational mouse model that precocious adversity represents a risk factor predisposing to the development of psychopathological behaviour.

How early maternal deprivation changes the brain and behavior?

Early life stress can adversely influence brain development and reprogram brain function and consequently behavior in adult life. Adequate maternal care in early childhood is therefore particularly important for the normal brain development, and adverse early life experiences can lead to altered emotional, behavioral, and neuroendocrine stress responses in the adulthood. As a form of neonatal stress, maternal deprivation/separation is often used in behavioral studies to examine the effects of early life stress and for modeling the development of certain psychiatric disorders and brain pathologies in animal models. The temporary loss of maternal care during the critical postpartum periods remodels the offspring's brain and provokes long-term effects on learning and cognition, the development of mental disorders, aggression, and an increased tendency for the drug abuse. Early life stress through maternal deprivation affects neuroendocrine responses to stress in adolescence and adulthood by dysregulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and permanently disrupts stress resilience. In this review, we focused on how improper maternal care during early postnatal life affects brain development resulting in modified behavior later in life.

Life-course effects of early life adversity exposure on eating behavior and metabolism

Environmental variations in early life influence brain development, making individuals more vulnerable to psychiatric and metabolic disorders. Early life stress (ELS) has a strong impact on the development of eating behavior. However, eating is a complex behavior, determined by an interaction between signals of energy homeostasis, neuronal circuits involved in its regulation, and circuits related to rewarding properties of the food. Although mechanisms underlying ELS-induced altered feeding behavior are not completely understood, evidence suggest that the effects of ELS on metabolic, mood, and emotional disorders, as well as reward system dysfunctions can contribute directly or indirectly to altered feeding behavior. The focus of this chapter is to discuss the effects of ELS on eating behavior and metabolism, considering different factors that control appetite such as energy homeostasis, hedonic properties of the food, emotional and cognitive status. After highlighting classic studies on the association between ELS and eating behavior alterations, we discuss how exposure to adversity can interact with genetics characteristics to predict variable outcomes.

Sex-dependent and ontogenetic effects of low dose ethanol on social behavioral deficits induced by mouse maternal separation

Early life stress can induce lifelong emotional and social behavioral deficits that may in some cases be alleviated by drugs or alcohol. A model for early life stress, rodent maternal separation, recapitulates these behavioral sequelae, which are not limited to potentiated anxiety-like behavior, attenuated social motivation, and altered reward-seeking. Here we employed mouse maternal separation with early weaning (MSEW), consisting of pup-dam separation lasting 4-8 hours on postnatal days (PD) 2-16, with early weaning on PD 17. Prior MSEW studies have limited subjects by age or sex, so we more comprehensively investigated MSEW effects in both sexes, during adolescence and adulthood. We found universal effects of MSEW to include lifelong enhancement of anxiety-like and despair behavior, as well as deficits in social motivation. We also observed some sex-dependent effects of MSEW, namely that female MSEW mice exhibited social habituation to a greater degree than their male counterparts. Low dose ethanol administration had no major effects on the social behavior of non-stressed mice. But interestingly, MSEW-induced social habituation was counteracted by low dose ethanol in adolescent female mice, and potentiated in adolescent male mice. These effects were absent in adult animals, suggesting that ethanol may exert differential effects on the developing brain in such a manner to produce age-, sex-, and stress-dependent effects upon social behavior. Together, results indicate that MSEW reliably produces long-lasting impairments in emotional and social behaviors in both sexes and across the lifespan, but may exert more salient social behavioral effects on female animals.

Elevated infant cortisol is necessary but not sufficient for transmission of environmental risk to infant social development: Cross-species evidence of mother-infant physiological social transmission

Environmental adversity increases child susceptibility to disrupted developmental outcomes, but the mechanisms by which adversity can shape development remain unclear. A translational cross-species approach was used to examine stress-mediated pathways by which poverty-related adversity can influence infant social development. Findings from a longitudinal sample of low-income mother-infant dyads indicated that infant cortisol (CORT) on its own did not mediate relations between early-life scarcity-adversity exposure and later infant behavior in a mother-child interaction task. However, maternal CORT through infant CORT served as a mediating pathway, even when controlling for parenting behavior. Findings using a rodent "scarcity-adversity" model indicated that pharmacologically blocking pup corticosterone (CORT, rodent equivalent to cortisol) in the presence of a stressed mother causally prevented social transmission of scarcity-adversity effects on pup social behavior. Furthermore, pharmacologically increasing pup CORT without the mother present was not sufficient to disrupt pup social behavior. Integration of our cross-species results suggests that elevated infant CORT may be necessary, but without elevated caregiver CORT, may not be sufficient in mediating the effects of environmental adversity on development. These findings underscore the importance of considering infant stress physiology in relation to the broader social context, including caregiver stress physiology, in research and interventional efforts.

Chemogenetic manipulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis counteracts social behavioral deficits induced by early life stress in C57BL/6J mice

Trauma during critical periods of development can induce long-lasting adverse effects. To study neural aberrations resulting from early life stress (ELS), many studies utilize rodent maternal separation, whereby pups are intermittently deprived of maternal care necessary for proper development. This can produce adulthood behavioral deficits related to anxiety, reward, and social behavior. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) encodes aspects of anxiety-like and social behaviors, and also undergoes developmental maturation during the early postnatal period, rendering it vulnerable to effects of ELS. Mice underwent maternal separation (separation 4 hr/day during postnatal day (PD)2-5 and 8 hr/day on PD6-16) with early weaning on PD17, which induced behavioral deficits in adulthood performance on two-part social interaction task designed to test social motivation (choice between a same-sex novel conspecific or an empty cup) and social novelty preference (choice between the original-novel conspecific vs. a new-novel conspecific). We used chemogenetics to non-selectively silence or activate neurons in the BNST to examine its role in social motivation and social novelty preference, in mice with or without the history of ELS. Manipulation of BNST produced differing social behavior effects in non-stressed versus ELS mice; social motivation was decreased in non-stressed mice following BNST activation, but unchanged following BNST silencing, while ELS mice showed no change in social behavior after BNST activation, but exhibited enhancement of social motivation-for which they were deficient prior-following BNST silencing. Findings emphasize the BNST as a potential therapeutic target for social anxiety disorders instigated by childhood trauma.

Salivary cortisol reactivity to psychological stressors in infancy: A meta-analysis

Measurement of salivary cortisol is a practical and non-invasive tool for studying stress reactivity to various types of stressors even in young infants. Whereas studies using physical stressors during the first months of life have found robust cortisol responses to painful stimuli, research with older infants using psychological stressors (e.g., parental separation) has produced mixed findings, limiting our understanding of potential developmental changes in cortisol reactivity across infancy. In the present study, we used meta-analysis to systematically investigate whether psychological stressor paradigms are associated with measurable cortisol responses in infants under 18 months of age and whether the magnitude of the responses is moderated by the type of psychological stressor (i.e., separation, frustration, novelty, or disruption of parental interaction), infant age, and other potential moderators. Across 47 studies (N = 4095, age range: 3-18 months), we found that commonly used psychological stressor paradigms are associated with a small (Hedges' g = .11) increase in salivary cortisol levels in typically developing infants. Stressor type moderated the effect sizes, and when effect sizes in each category were analyzed separately, only the separation studies were associated with a consistent increase in cortisol following the stressor. Age did not moderate the effect sizes either in the full set of studies or within the separate stressor types. These meta-analytic results indicate that the normative cortisol response to psychological stressors across infancy is small and emphasize the need for standardized stressor paradigms to assess cortisol responses systematically across infancy.

Early postnatal allopregnanolone levels alteration and adult behavioral disruption in rats: Implication for drug abuse

Several studies have highlighted the role that early postnatal levels of allopregnanolone play in the development of the CNS and adult behavior. Changes in allopregnanolone levels related to stress have been observed during early postnatal periods, and perinatal stress has been linked to neuropsychiatric disorders. The alteration of early postnatal allopregnanolone levels in the first weeks of life has been proven to affect adult behaviors, such as anxiety-related behaviors and the processing of sensory inputs. This review focuses on the first studies about the possible relationship between the early postnatal allopregnanolone levels and the vulnerability to abuse of drugs such as alcohol in adulthood, given that (1) changes in neonatal allopregnanolone levels affect novelty exploration and novelty seeking has been linked to vulnerability to drug abuse; (2) early postnatal administration of progesterone, the main allopregnanolone precursor, affects the maturation of dopaminergic meso-striatal systems, which have been related to novelty seeking and drug abuse; and (3) alcohol consumption increases plasma and brain allopregnanolone levels in animals and humans. Manipulating neonatal allopregnanolone by administering finasteride, an inhibitor of the 5α-reductase enzyme that participates in allopregnanolone synthesis, increases alcohol consumption and decreases the locomotor stimulant effects of low alcohol doses. At a molecular level, finasteride decreases dopamine and serotonin in ventral striatum and dopamine release in nucleus accumbens. Preliminary results suggest that serotonin 5HT3 receptors could also be affected. Although an in-depth study is necessary, evidence suggests that there is a relation between early postnatal allopregnanolone and vulnerability to drug use/abuse.

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Early postnatal AlloP levels alteration affects brain maturation and adult behavior.

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Early stress interacts to AlloP influencing neuropsychiatric disorders vulnerability.

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Fluctuations in neonatal AlloP levels play a role in alcohol abuse vulnerability.

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Neonatal finasteride induces novelty-seeking profile and increases ethanol intake.

Maternal separation in rodents: a journey from gut to brain and nutritional perspectives

The developmental period constitutes a critical window of sensitivity to stress. Indeed, early-life adversity increases the risk to develop psychiatric diseases, but also gastrointestinal disorders such as the irritable bowel syndrome at adulthood. In the past decade, there has been huge interest in the gut-brain axis, especially as regards stress-related emotional behaviours. Animal models of early-life adversity, in particular, maternal separation (MS) in rodents, demonstrate lasting deleterious effects on both the gut and the brain. Here, we review the effects of MS on both systems with a focus on stress-related behaviours. In addition, we discuss more recent findings showing the impact of gut-directed interventions, including nutrition with pre- and probiotics, illustrating the role played by gut microbiota in mediating the long-term effects of MS. Overall, preclinical studies suggest that nutritional approaches with pro- and prebiotics may constitute safe and efficient strategies to attenuate the effects of early-life stress on the gut-brain axis. Further research is required to understand the complex mechanisms underlying gut-brain interaction dysfunctions after early-life stress as well as to determine the beneficial impact of gut-directed strategies in a context of early-life adversity in human subjects.

Offspring of male rats exposed to binge alcohol exhibit heightened ethanol intake at infancy and alterations in T-maze performance

Alcohol use is associated with a variety of negative consequences, including heightened likelihood of cognitive impairment, proclivity to alcohol use disorders (AUD), and alterations in the drinker's offspring. Children and rodents exposed to alcohol during pregnancy, or those whose fathers consumed alcohol prior to mating, often exhibit neurodevelopmental, physiological, and behavioral deficits. The present study assessed cognitive function and alcohol intake in male and female rats that were offspring of alcohol-exposed fathers. Adult male rats were exposed to alcohol or vehicle (0.0 or 2.0 g/kg, respectively; twice daily for 2 days followed by a rest day, for a total of eight alcohol or vehicle exposure days), or were left untreated and then mated with non-manipulated females. The offspring were assessed for alcohol intake, via intraoral infusion, followed by cognitive assessment via an alternating T-maze task. The results indicated that paternal ethanol exposure, prior to breeding, resulted in offspring that consumed significantly more ethanol than vehicle or untreated controls. Furthermore, the offspring of alcohol-exposed fathers exhibited a significant failure to initiate and complete the T-maze performance tests. Although, when they did engage in the tests they performed at the level of controls (i.e., 80% correct). The present results add to a growing body of literature suggesting that paternal pre-conception alcohol exposure can have deleterious effects on the offspring.

Early-Life Adversity Induces Epigenetically Regulated Changes in Hippocampal Dopaminergic Molecular Pathways

Early-life adversity (ELA) represents a major risk factor for the development of behavioral dysfunctions and mental disorders later in life. On the other hand, dependent on type, time point, and duration, ELA exposure can also induce adaptations, which result in better stress coping and resilience later in life. Guided by the hypothesis that chronic exposure to ELA results in dysfunctional brain and behavior, whereas short exposure to ELA may result in resilience, the behavioral and neurobiological consequences of long-term separation stress (LTSS) and short-term separation stress (STSS) were compared in a mouse model for ELA. In line with our hypothesis, we found that LTSS induced depressive-like behavior, whereas STSS reduced depressive-like behavioral symptoms. We then tested the hypothesis that the opposite behavioral outcomes of the two stress paradigms may be mediated by functional, epigenetically regulated changes of dopaminergic modulation in the hippocampal formation. We found that STSS exposure elevated dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1) gene expression and decreased gene expression of its downstream modulator DARPP-32 (32-kDa dopamine- and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein), which was paralleled by decreased H3 acetylation at its gene promoter region. In contrast, LTSS elevated DARPP-32 gene expression, which was not paralleled by changes in histone acetylation and DRD1 gene expression. These findings indicate that short- and long-term neonatal exposure to ELA induces changes in dopaminergic molecular pathways, some of which are epigenetically regulated and which either alleviate or aggravate depressive-like symptoms later in life.

Maternal Deprivation Increases Anxiety- and Depressive-Like Behaviors in an Age-Dependent Fashion and Reduces Neuropeptide Y Expression in the Amygdala and Hippocampus of Male and Female Young Adult Rats

Maternal deprivation for 24 h produces an immediate increase in basal and stress-induced corticosterone (CORT) secretion. Given the impact of elevated CORT levels on brain development, the goal of the present study was to characterize the effects of maternal deprivation at postnatal days 3 (DEP3) or 11 (DEP11) on emotional behavior and neuropeptide Y immunoreactivity (NPY-ir) in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) of male and female rats. Litters were distributed in control non-deprived (CTL), DEP3, or DEP11 groups. In Experiment 1, within each litter, one male and one female were submitted to one of the following tests: novelty suppressed feeding (NSF), sucrose negative contrast test (SNCT), and forced swimming test (FST), between postnatal days 52 and 60. In Experiment 2, two males and two females per litter were exposed to the elevated plus maze and 1 h later, perfused for investigation of NPY-ir, on PND 52. The results showed that DEP3 rats displayed greater anxiety-like behavior in the NSF and EPM, compared to CTL and DEP11 counterparts. In the SNCT, DEP3 and DEP11 males showed less suppression of the lower sucrose concentration intake, whereas all females suppressed less than males. Both manipulated groups displayed more immobility in the FST, although this effect was greater in DEP3 than in DEP11 rats. NPY-ir was reduced in DEP3 and DEP11 males and females in the BLA, whereas in the dHPC, DEP3 males showed less NPY-ir than DEP11, which, in turn, presented less NPY-ir than CTL rats. Females showed less NPY-ir than males in both structures. Because the deprivation effects were more intense in DEP3 than in DEP11, in Experiment 3, the frequency of nursing posture, licking-grooming, and interaction with pups was assessed upon litter reunion with mothers. Mothers of DEP11 litters engaged more in anogenital licking than mothers of DEP3 litters. The present results indicate that maternal deprivation changed affective behavior with greater impact in the earlier age and reduced the expression of NPY in emotion-related brain areas. The age-dependent differential effects of deprivation on maternal behavior could, at least in part, explain the outcomes in young adult rats.

Developmental psychoneuroendocrine and psychoneuroimmune pathways from childhood adversity to disease

Childhood adversity has been repeatedly and robustly linked to physical and mental illness across the lifespan. Yet, the biological pathways through which this occurs remain unclear. Functioning of the inflammatory arm of the immune system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis are both hypothesized pathways through which childhood adversity leads to disease. This review provides a novel developmental framework for examining the role of adversity type and timing in inflammatory and HPA-axis functioning. In particular, we identify elements of childhood adversity that are salient to the developing organism: physical threat, disrupted caregiving, and unpredictable environmental conditions. We propose that existing, well-characterized animal models may be useful in differentiating the effects of these adversity elements and review both the animal and human literature that supports these ideas. To support these hypotheses, we also provide a detailed description of the development and structure of both the HPA-axis and the inflammatory arm of the immune system, as well as recent methodological advances in their measurement. Recommendations for future basic, developmental, translational, and clinical research are discussed.

The neurobiology of safety and threat learning in infancy

What an animal needs to learn to survive is altered dramatically as they change from dependence on the parent for protection to independence and reliance on self-defense. This transition occurs in most altricial animals, but our understanding of the behavioral neurobiology has mostly relied on the infant rat. The transformation from dependence to independence occurs over three weeks in pups and is accompanied by complex changes in responses to both natural and learned threats and the supporting neural circuitry. Overall, in early life, the threat system is quiescent and learning is biased towards acquiring attachment related behaviors to support attachment to the caregiver and proximity seeking. Caregiver-associated cues learned in infancy have the ability to provide a sense of safety throughout lifetime. This attachment/safety system is activated by learning involving presumably pleasurable stimuli (food, warmth) but also painful stimuli (tailpinch, moderate shock). At about the midway point to independence, pups begin to have access to the adult-like amygdala-dependent threat system and amygdala-dependent responses to natural dangers such as predator odors. However, pups have the ability to switch between the infant and adult-like system, which is controlled by maternal presence and modification of stress hormones. Specifically, if the pup is alone, it will learn fear but if with the mother it will learn attachment (10-15days of age). As pups begin to approach weaning, pups lose access to the attachment system and rely only on the amygdala-dependent threat system. However, pups learning system is complex and exhibits flexibility that enables the mother to override the control of the attachment circuit, since newborn pups may acquire threat responses from the mother expressing fear in their presence. Together, these data suggest that the development of pups' threat learning system is not only dependent upon maturation of the amygdala, but it is also exquisitely controlled by the environment. Most notably the mother can switch pup learning between attachment to threat learning in a moment's notice. This enables the mother to navigate pup's learning about the world and what is threatening and what is safe.

Attachment Figure's Regulation of Infant Brain and Behavior

Altricial infants (i.e., requiring parental care for survival), such as humans and rats, form an attachment to their caregiver and receive the nurturing and protections needed for survival. Learning has a strong role in attachment, as is illustrated by strong attachment formed to non-biological caregivers of either sex. Here we summarize and integrate results from animal and human infant attachment research that highlights the important role of social buffering (social presence) of the stress response by the attachment figure and its effect on infant processing of threat and fear through modulation of the amygdala. Indeed, this work suggests the caregiver switches off amygdala function in rodents, although recent human research suggests a similar process in humans and nonhuman primates. This cross-species analysis helps provide insight and unique understanding of attachment and its role in the neurobiology of infant behavior within attachment.

Neurobiology of early life stress and visceral pain: translational relevance from animal models to patient care

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological studies show that females are twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) than their male counterparts. Despite evidence pointing to a role for sex hormones in the onset or exacerbation of IBS symptoms, the mechanism by which ovarian hormones may predispose women to develop IBS remains largely undefined. On the other hand, there is a growing body of research showing a correlation between reports of early life stress (ELS) and the diagnosis of IBS. Current treatments available for IBS patients target symptom relief including abdominal pain and alterations in bowel habits, but are not directed to the etiology of the disease.

PURPOSE

To better understand the mechanisms by which sex hormones and ELS contribute to IBS, animal models have been developed to mirror complex human experiences allowing for longitudinal studies that investigate the lifelong consequences of ELS. These preclinical models have been successful in recapitulating ELS-induced visceral pain. Moreover, in female rats the influence of cycling hormones on visceral hypersensitivity resembles that seen in women with IBS. Such studies suggest that rodent models of ELS may serve as pivotal tools in determining (i) the etiology of IBS, (ii) novel future treatments for IBS, and (iii) improving individualized patient care. The current review aims to shed light on the progress and the challenges observed by clinicians within the field of gastroenterology and the preclinical science aimed at addressing those challenges in an effort to understand and more efficiently treat functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in both children and adults.

Effects of neonatal allopregnanolone manipulations and early maternal separation on adult alcohol intake and monoamine levels in ventral striatum of male rats

Changes in endogenous neonatal levels of the neurosteroid allopregnanolone (AlloP) as well as a single 24h period of early maternal separation (EMS) on postnatal day (PND) 9 affect the development of the central nervous system (CNS), causing adolescent/adult alterations including systems and behavioural traits that could be related to vulnerability to drug abuse. In rats, some behavioural alterations caused by EMS can be neutralised by previous administration of AlloP. Thus, the aim of the present work is to analyse if manipulations of neonatal AlloP could increase adult alcohol consumption, and if EMS could change these effects. We administered AlloP or finasteride, a 5α-reductase inhibitor, from PND5 to PND9, followed by 24h of EMS at PND9. At PND70 we measured alcohol consumption using a two-bottle free-choice model (ethanol 10% (v/v)+glucose 3% (w/v), and glucose 3% (w/v)) for 15days. Ventral striatum samples were obtained to determine monoamine levels. Results revealed that neonatal finasteride increased both ethanol and glucose consumption, and AlloP increased alcohol intake compared with neonatal vehicle-injected animals. The differences between neonatal groups in alcohol consumption were not found in EMS animals. In accordance, both finasteride and AlloP animals that did not suffer EMS showed lower levels of dopamine and serotonin in ventral striatum. Taken together, these results reveal that neonatal neurosteroids alterations affect alcohol intake; an effect which can be modified by subsequent EMS. Thus, these data corroborate the importance of the relationship between neonatal neurosteroids and neonatal stress for the correct CNS development.

Limited Nesting Stress Alters Maternal Behavior and In Vivo Intestinal Permeability in Male Wistar Pup Rats

A few studies indicate that limited nesting stress (LNS) alters maternal behavior and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis of dams and offspring in male Sprague Dawley rats. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of LNS on maternal behavior in Wistar rats, and on the HPA axis, glycemia and in vivo intestinal permeability of male and female offspring. Intestinal permeability is known to be elevated during the first week postnatally and influenced by glucocorticoids. Dams and neonatal litters were subjected to LNS or normal nesting conditions (control) from days 2 to 10 postnatally. At day 10, blood was collected from pups for determination of glucose and plasma corticosterone by enzyme immunoassay and in vivo intestinal permeability by oral gavage of fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran 4kDa. Dams exposed to LNS compared to control showed an increase in the percentage of time spent building a nest (118%), self-grooming (69%), and putting the pups back to the nest (167%). LNS male and female pups exhibited a reduction of body weight by 5% and 4%, adrenal weights/100g body weight by 17% and 18%, corticosterone plasma levels by 64% and 62% and blood glucose by 11% and 12% respectively compared to same sex control pups. In male LNS pups, intestinal permeability was increased by 2.7-fold while no change was observed in females compared to same sex control. There was no sex difference in any of the parameters in control pups except the body weight. These data indicate that Wistar dams subjected to LNS during the first postnatal week have an altered repertoire of maternal behaviors which affects the development of the HPA axis in both sexes and intestinal barrier function in male offspring.

Unique neurobiology during the sensitive period for attachment produces distinctive infant trauma processing

BACKGROUND

Trauma has neurobehavioral effects when experienced at any stage of development, but trauma experienced in early life has unique neurobehavioral outcomes related to later life psychiatric sequelae. Recent evidence has further highlighted the context of infant trauma as a critical variable in determining its immediate and enduring consequences. Trauma experienced from an attachment figure, such as occurs in cases of caregiver child maltreatment, is particularly detrimental.

METHODS

Using data primarily from rodent models, we review the literature on the interaction between trauma and attachment in early life, which highlights the role of the caregiver's presence in engagement of attachment brain circuitry and suppressing threat processing by the amygdala. We then consider how trauma with and without the caregiver produces long-term changes in emotionality and behavior, and suggest that these experiences initiate distinct pathways to pathology.

RESULTS

Together these data suggest that infant trauma processing and its enduring effects are impacted by both the immaturity of brain areas for processing trauma and the unique functioning of the early-life brain, which is biased toward processing information within the attachment circuitry.

CONCLUSION

An understanding of developmental differences in trauma processing as well as the critical role of the caregiver in further altering early life brain processing of trauma is important for developing age-relevant treatment and interventions.

Naltrexone Prevents in Males and Attenuates in Females the Expression of Behavioral Sensitization to Ethanol Regardless of Maternal Separation

Maternal separation alters the activity of the opioid system, which modulates ethanol-induced stimulation and behavioral sensitization. This study examined the effects of an opioid antagonist, naltrexone (NTX), on the expression of behavioral sensitization to ethanol in adult male and female mice submitted to maternal separation from postnatal days (PNDs) 2 to 14. Whole litters of Swiss mice were either not separated [animal facility rearing (AFR)] or separated from their mothers for 3 h [long maternal separation (LMS)]. Starting on PND 90, male and female AFR and LMS mice received daily i.p. injections of saline (SAL) or ethanol (EtOH, 2.2 g/kg) for 21 days. Locomotor activity was assessed in cages containing photoelectric beams, once a week, to examine the development of behavioral sensitization. Five days after the end of the chronic treatment, animals were submitted to four locomotor activity tests spaced by 48 h, to assess the expression of behavioral sensitization. In all tests, animals received two i.p. injections with a 30-min interval and were then assessed for locomotor response to different treatment challenges, which were: SAL/SAL, SAL/EtOH (2.2 g/kg), NTX 2.0 mg/kg (NTX2)/EtOH, and NTX 4.0 mg/kg (NTX4)/EtOH. Regardless of maternal separation, EtOH-treated male and female mice displayed increased locomotor responses to EtOH during the 21-day treatment, indicating the development of behavioral sensitization. In the SAL/EtOH challenge, EtOH-treated LMS and AFR male and female mice exhibited higher locomotor activity than their SAL-treated counterparts, indicating the expression of sensitization. The coadministration of either dose of NTX blocked the expression of locomotor sensitization in both AFR and LMS male mice with a history of EtOH sensitization. In females, a significant attenuation of EtOH sensitization was promoted by both NTX doses, while still maintaining an augmented stimulant response to EtOH. Importantly, maternal separation did not interfere in this phenomenon. These results indicate that expression of behavioral sensitization was importantly modulated by opioidergic mechanisms both in male and female mice and that maternal separation did not play a major role in either development or expression of this EtOH sensitization.

When mothering goes awry: Challenges and opportunities for utilizing evidence across rodent, nonhuman primate and human studies to better define the biological consequences of negative early caregiving

This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care".Across mammalian species, mothers shape socio-emotional development and serve as essential external regulators of infant physiology, brain development, behavior patterns, and emotional regulation. Caregiving quality, consistency and predictability shape the infant's underlying neurobiological processes. Although the requirements for "optimal" caregiving differ across species, the negative long-term consequences of the absence of needed caregiving (e.g. neglect) or the presence of harmful/aversive caregiving (e.g. physical abuse), are translatable across species. Recognizing the significant potential of cross species comparisons in terms of defining underlying mechanisms, effective translation requires consideration of the evolutionary, ecological, and fundamental biological and developmental differences between and among species. This review provides both an overview of several success stories of cross-species translations in relation to negative caregiving and a template for future studies seeking to most effectively define the underlying biological processes and advance research dedicated to mitigating the lasting negative health consequences of child maltreatment.

Early-life stress origins of gastrointestinal disease: animal models, intestinal pathophysiology, and translational implications

Early-life stress and adversity are major risk factors in the onset and severity of gastrointestinal (GI) disease in humans later in life. The mechanisms by which early-life stress leads to increased GI disease susceptibility in adult life remain poorly understood. Animal models of early-life stress have provided a foundation from which to gain a more fundamental understanding of this important GI disease paradigm. This review focuses on animal models of early-life stress-induced GI disease, with a specific emphasis on translational aspects of each model to specific human GI disease states. Early postnatal development of major GI systems and the consequences of stress on their development are discussed in detail. Relevant translational differences between species and models are highlighted.

Cell Type-Specific Sexual Dimorphism in Rat Pituitary Gene Expression During Maturation

The most obvious functional differences between mammalian males and females are related to the control of reproductive physiology and include patterns of GnRH and gonadotropin release, the timing of puberty, sexual and social behavior, and the regulation of food intake and body weight. Using the rat as the best-studied mammalian model for maturation, we examined the expression of major anterior pituitary genes in five secretory cell types of developing males and females. Corticotrophs show comparable Pomc profiles in both sexes, with the highest expression occurring during the infantile period. Somatotrophs and lactotrophs also exhibit no difference in Gh1 and Prl profiles during embryonic to juvenile age but show the amplification of Prl expression in females and Gh1 expression in males during peripubertal and postpubertal ages. Gonadotrophs exhibit highly synchronized Lhb, Fshb, Cga, and Gnrhr expression in both sexes, but the peak of expression occurs during the infantile period in females and at the end of the juvenile period in males. Thyrotrophs also show different developmental Tshb profiles, which are synchronized with the expression of gonadotroph genes in males but not in females. These results indicate the lack of influence of sex on Pomc expression and the presence of two patterns of sexual dimorphism in the expression of other pituitary genes: a time shift in the peak expression during postnatal development, most likely reflecting the perinatal sex-specific brain differentiation, and modulation of the amplitude of expression during late development, which is secondary to the establishment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal and -thyroid axes.

Behavior in the elevated plus maze is differentially affected by testing conditions in rats under and over three weeks of age

The late postnatal period in rats is marked by numerous changes in perceptual and cognitive abilities. As such, age-related variation in cognitive test performance might result in part from disparate sensitivities to environmental factors. To better understand how testing conditions might interact with age, we assessed anxiety behavior on an elevated plus maze (EPM) in juvenile rats around 3 weeks of age under diverse testing conditions. Plasma corticosterone and neuronal activation patterns in the forebrain were examined after maze exposure. We found that anxiety was differentially expressed during different stages of late postnatal development. Bright illumination and morning testing encouraged greatest open arm exploration on the EPM in younger animals, while older rats explored open areas more under dim illumination in the morning compared to bright illumination in the afternoon/evening. Older rats exhibited higher plasma corticosterone levels at baseline compared to younger rats; however, this trend was reversed for post-testing corticosterone. Additionally, post-testing corticosterone levels were inversely related to time of testing. Compared to testing in the morning, EPM exposure in the afternoon/evening elicited greater neuronal Arc expression in the amygdala. Arc expression in the amygdala after morning testing was greater at P22–24 than P17–19. In layer 2/3 of primary visual cortex, Arc expression was elevated in younger animals and age interacted with time of testing to produce opposing effects at P17–19 and P22–24. These data suggest that age-related differences in anxiety-associated behavior during the late postnatal period are due in part to changes in light sensitivity and emergence of a circadian cycle for corticosterone. The findings illustrate that late postnatal behavioral development in rodents is a complex orchestration of changes in neural systems involved in perception, cognition, affect and homeostatic regulation.

Developmental neurobiology of the rat attachment system and its modulation by stress

Stress is a powerful modulator of brain structure and function. While stress is beneficial for survival, inappropriate stress dramatically increases the risk of physical and mental health problems, particularly when experienced during early developmental periods. Here we focus on the neurobiology of the infant rat's odor learning system that enables neonates to learn and approach the maternal odor and describe the unique role of the stress hormone corticosterone in modulating this odor approach learning across development. During the first nine postnatal days, this odor approach learning of infant rats is supported by a wide range of sensory stimuli and ensures attachment to the mother's odor, even when interactions with her are occasionally associated with pain. With maturation and the emergence of a stress- or pain-induced corticosterone response, this odor approach learning terminates and a more adult-like amygdala-dependent fear/avoidance learning emerges. Strikingly, the odor approach and attenuated fear learning of older pups can be re-established by the presence of the mother, due to her ability to suppress her pups' corticosterone release and amygdala activity. This suggests that developmental changes in stress responsiveness and the stimuli that produce a stress response might be critically involved in optimally adapting the pup's attachment system to its respective ecological niche.

Role of sensory, social, and hormonal signals from the mother on the development of offspring

For mammals, sensory, social, and hormonal experience early in life is essential for the continuity of the infant's development. These experiences come from the mother through maternal care, and have enduring effects on the physiology and behavior of the adult organism. Disturbing the mother-offspring interaction by maternal deprivation (neglect) or exposure to adverse events as chronic stress, maltreatment, or sexual abuse has negative effects on the mental, psychological, physiological, and behavioral health. Indeed, these kinds of negative experiences can be the source of some neuropsychiatric diseases as depression, anxiety, impulsive aggression, and antisocial behavior. The purpose of this chapter is to review the most relevant evidence that supports the participation of cues from the mother and/or littermates during the postnatal preweaning period for the development of nervous system of the offspring. These findings come from the most frequently utilized experimental paradigms used in animal models, such as natural variations in maternal behavior, handling, partial maternal deprivation, and total maternal deprivation and artificial rearing. Through the use of these experimental procedures, it is possible to positively (handling paradigm), or negatively (maternal deprivation paradigms), affect the offspring's development. Finally, this chapter reviews the importance of the hormones that pups ingest through the maternal milk during early lactation on the development of several physiological systems, including the immune, endocrine systems, as well as on the adult behavior of the offspring.

The consequences of early-life adversity: neurobiological, behavioural and epigenetic adaptations

During the perinatal period, the brain is particularly sensitive to remodelling by environmental factors. Adverse early-life experiences, such as stress exposure or suboptimal maternal care, can have long-lasting detrimental consequences for an individual. This phenomenon is often referred to as 'early-life programming' and is associated with an increased risk of disease. Typically, rodents exposed to prenatal stress or postnatal maternal deprivation display enhanced neuroendocrine responses to stress, increased levels of anxiety and depressive-like behaviours, and cognitive impairments. Some of the phenotypes observed in these models of early-life adversity are likely to share common neurobiological mechanisms. For example, there is evidence for impaired glucocorticoid negative-feedback control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, altered glutamate neurotransmission and reduced hippocampal neurogenesis in both prenatally stressed rats and rats that experienced deficient maternal care. The possible mechanisms through which maternal stress during pregnancy may be transmitted to the offspring are reviewed, with special consideration given to altered maternal behaviour postpartum. We also discuss what is known about the neurobiological and epigenetic mechanisms that underpin early-life programming of the neonatal brain in the first generation and subsequent generations, with a view to abrogating programming effects and potentially identifying new therapeutic targets for the treatment of stress-related disorders and cognitive impairment.

Neonatal stress-induced affective changes in adolescent Wistar rats: early signs of schizophrenia-like behavior

Psychiatric disorders are multifactorial diseases with etiology that may involve genetic factors, early life environment and stressful life events. The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia is based on a wealth of data on increased vulnerability in individuals exposed to insults during the perinatal period. Maternal deprivation (MD) disinhibits the adrenocortical response to stress in neonatal rats and has been used as an animal model of schizophrenia. To test if long-term affective consequences of early life stress were influenced by maternal presence, we submitted 10-day old rats, either deprived (for 22 h) or not from their dams, to a stress challenge (i.p. saline injection). Corticosterone plasma levels were measured 2 h after the challenge, whereas another subgroup was assessed for behavior in the open field, elevated plus maze (EPM), social investigation and the negative contrast sucrose consumption test in adolescence (postnatal day 45). Maternally deprived rats exhibited increased plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels which were higher in maternally deprived and stress challenged pups. Social investigation was impaired in maternally deprived rats only, while saline injection, independently of MD, was associated with increased anxiety-like behavior in the EPM and an impaired intake decrement in the negative sucrose contrast. In the open field, center exploration was reduced in all maternally-deprived adolescents and in control rats challenged with saline injection. The most striking finding was that exposure to a stressful stimulus per se, regardless of MD, was linked to differential emotional consequences. We therefore propose that besides being a well-known and validated model of schizophrenia in adult rats, the MD paradigm could be extended to model early signs of psychiatric dysfunction, and would particularly be a useful tool to detect early signs that resemble schizophrenia.

Developmental rodent models of fear and anxiety: from neurobiology to pharmacology

Anxiety disorders pose one of the biggest threats to mental health in the world, and they predominantly emerge early in life. However, research of anxiety disorders and fear-related memories during development has been largely neglected, and existing treatments have been developed based on adult models of anxiety. The present review describes animal models of anxiety disorders across development and what is currently known of their pharmacology. To summarize, the underlying mechanisms of intrinsic 'unlearned' fear are poorly understood, especially beyond the period of infancy. Models using 'learned' fear reveal that through development, rats exhibit a stress hyporesponsive period before postnatal day 10, where they paradoxically form odour-shock preferences, and then switch to more adult-like conditioned fear responses. Juvenile rats appear to forget these aversive associations more easily, as is observed with the phenomenon of infantile amnesia. Juvenile rats also undergo more robust extinction, until adolescence where they display increased resistance to extinction. Maturation of brain structures, such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, along with the different temporal recruitment and involvement of various neurotransmitter systems (including NMDA, GABA, corticosterone and opioids) are responsible for these developmental changes. Taken together, the studies described in this review highlight that there is a period early in development where rats appear to be more robust in overcoming adverse early life experience. We need to understand the fundamental pharmacological processes underlying anxiety early in life in order to take advantage of this period for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Naturalistic rodent models of chronic early-life stress

A close association between early-life experience and cognitive and emotional outcomes is found in humans. In experimental models, early-life experience can directly influence a number of brain functions long-term. Specifically, and often in concert with genetic background, experience regulates structural and functional maturation of brain circuits and alters individual neuronal function via large-scale changes in gene expression. Because adverse experience during sensitive developmental periods is often associated with neuropsychiatric disease, there is an impetus to create realistic models of distinct early-life experiences. These can then be used to study causality between early-life experiential factors and cognitive and emotional outcomes, and to probe the underlying mechanisms. Although chronic early-life stress has been linked to the emergence of emotional and cognitive disorders later in life, most commonly used rodent models of involve daily maternal separation and hence intermittent early-life stress. We describe here a naturalistic and robust chronic early-life stress model that potently influences cognitive and emotional outcomes. Mice and rats undergoing this stress develop structural and functional deficits in a number of limbic-cortical circuits. Whereas overt pathological memory impairments appear during adulthood, emotional and cognitive vulnerabilities emerge already during adolescence. This naturalistic paradigm, widely adopted around the world, significantly enriches the repertoire of experimental tools available for the study of normal brain maturation and of cognitive and stress-related disorders including depression, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dementia.

Serum NGF, BDNF and IL-6 levels in postpartum mothers as predictors of infant development: the influence of affective disorders

BACKGROUND

Early adverse experiences are associated with increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders, although little is known about the neurobiological mediators involved. The mechanisms by which early environmental influences may mediate vulnerability in the development of offspring await further investigation. The present study correlated the NGF, BDNF, IL-6 and cortisol levels of mothers with postpartum affective disorders (PPAD) with infant development.

METHODS

A longitudinal study was performed with 152 pregnant women and their infants. Between 60 and 120 days after delivery, women were interviewed and provided biological samples for biochemical analysis, and the infants were examined for neurobiological-motor development.

RESULTS

Overall, the mothers' history of affective disorders, PPAD and anxiety disorder were associated with infant motor development. Using an adjusted linear regression analysis, PPAD (p = 0.049), maternal anxiety disorder (p = 0.043), NGF level (p = 0.034) and infant cortisol level (p = 0.013) were associated with infant motor development. Using a factorial analysis of primary components, two components were retained. The psychological factor was characterized by a positive loading of a history of affective disorder, PPAD and anxiety disorder. For the biological factor, infant cortisol adhered negatively with infant motor development, but NGF was positively associated. The psychological factor had a negative association, but the biological factor had a positive association with infant motor development.

CONCLUSIONS

There are few studies that have focused on the relationship of biomarkers and infant neurodevelopment. Our study points that psychological and biological factors are associated with infant motor development, however the causal relationship between these factors is still to be defined.

Perinatal programming of emotional brain circuits: an integrative view from systems to molecules

Environmental influences such as perinatal stress have been shown to program the developing organism to adapt brain and behavioral functions to cope with daily life challenges. Evidence is now accumulating that the specific and individual effects of early life adversity on the functional development of brain and behavior emerge as a function of the type, intensity, timing and the duration of the adverse environment, and that early life stress (ELS) is a major risk factor for developing behavioral dysfunctions and mental disorders. Results from clinical as well as experimental studies in animal models support the hypothesis that ELS can induce functional “scars” in prefrontal and limbic brain areas, regions that are essential for emotional control, learning and memory functions. On the other hand, the concept of “stress inoculation” is emerging from more recent research, which revealed positive functional adaptations in response to ELS resulting in resilience against stress and other adversities later in life. Moreover, recent studies indicate that early life experiences and the resulting behavioral consequences can be transmitted to the next generation, leading to a transgenerational cycle of adverse or positive adaptations of brain function and behavior. In this review we propose a unifying view of stress vulnerability and resilience by connecting genetic predisposition and programming sensitivity to the context of experience-expectancy and transgenerational epigenetic traits. The adaptive maturation of stress responsive neural and endocrine systems requires environmental challenges to optimize their functions. Repeated environmental challenges can be viewed within the framework of the match/mismatch hypothesis, the outcome, psychopathology or resilience, depends on the respective predisposition and on the context later in life.

Early experience of a novel-environment in isolation primes a fearful phenotype characterized by persistent amygdala activation

Prolonged maternal separation (MS) activates the neonate's hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis causing elevated basal and stress-induced corticosterone levels that may initiate amygdala-dependent fear learning. Here we test the hypothesis that the adult fearful phenotype is programmed by the pup's stressful experience during prolonged MS rather than by prolonged maternal absence per se. For this purpose, Wistar rat pups were exposed, on postnatal-day (pnd) 3, to: (i) repeated-MS in home-environment (HOME-SEP), 8h-MS daily for three days with the pups remaining together in the home-cage; (ii) repeated-MS in a novel-environment (NOVEL-SEP), with the same separation procedure, but now the pups were individually housed in a novel-environment during the 8h dam's absence; (iii) repeated handling, which consisted of daily brief (15 min instead of 8h) MS in the home-altogether or in a novel-environment individually (HOME-HAN and NOVEL-HAN, respectively); (iv) no-separation/no-handling (NON-SEP/NON-HAN) control condition, in which pups were left undisturbed in their home-cage. Compared to HOME-SEP rats, the NOVEL-SEP rats showed one day after the last MS enhanced stress-induced amygdala c-Fos expression and ACTH-release, despite of reduced adrenal corticosterone secretion. The higher amygdala c-Fos expression, ACTH-release and reduced corticosterone output observed postnatally, persisted into adulthood of the NOVEL-SEP animals. Behaviorally, NOVEL-SEP juvenile rats displayed deficits in social play, had intact spatial memory in the peri-pubertal period and showed more contextual fear memory compared to HOME-SEP in adulthood. Finally, NOVEL-HAN, compared to HOME-HAN, displayed increased stress-induced corticosterone output, no deficits in social play and reduced contextual fear. In conclusion, programming of an adult fearful phenotype linked to amygdala priming develops if pups are repeatedly isolated from peers in a novel-environment, while away from the dam for a prolonged period of time.

Context modulates outcome of perinatal glucocorticoid action in the brain

Prematurely born infants may be at risk, because of inadequate maturation of tissues. If there are signs of preterm birth, it has become common practice therefore to treat either antenatally the mother or postnatally the infant with glucocorticoids to accelerate tissue development, particularly of the lung. However, this life-saving early glucocorticoid treatment was found to increase the risk of adverse outcome in later life. In one animal study, the authors reported a 25% shorter lifespan of rats treated as newborns with the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone, but so far this finding has not been replicated. After a brief clinical introduction, we discuss studies in rodents designed to examine how perinatal glucocorticoid action affects the developing brain. It appears that the perinatal action of the glucocorticoid depends on the context and the timing as well as the type of administered steroid. The type of steroid is important because the endogenous glucocorticoids cortisol and corticosterone bind to two distinct receptor populations, i.e., mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors (GR), while synthetic glucocorticoids predominantly bind to the GR. In addition, if given antenatally hydrocortisone is inactivated in the placenta by 11β-HSD type 2, and dexamethasone is not. With respect to timing, the outcome of glucocorticoid effects is different in early vs. late phases of brain development. The context refers to the environmental input that can affect the susceptibility to glucocorticoid action in the newborn rodent brain; early handling of pups and maternal care obliterate effects of post-natal dexamethasone treatment. Context also refers to coping with environmental conditions in later life, for which the individual may have been programed epigenetically by early-life experience. This knowledge of determinants affecting the outcome of perinatal glucocorticoid exposure may have clinical implications for the treatment of prematurely born infants.

Early life trauma and attachment: immediate and enduring effects on neurobehavioral and stress axis development

Over half a century of converging clinical and animal research indicates that early life experiences induce enduring neuroplasticity of the HPA-axis and the developing brain. This experience-induced neuroplasticity is due to alterations in the frequency and intensity of stimulation of pups' sensory systems (i.e., olfactory, somatosensory, gustatory) embedded in mother-infant interactions. This stimulation provides "hidden regulators" of pups' behavioral, physiological, and neural responses that have both immediate and enduring consequences, including those involving the stress response. While variation in stimulation can produce individual differences and adaptive behaviors, pathological early life experiences can induce maladaptive behaviors, initiate a pathway to pathology, and increase risk for later-life psychopathologies, such as mood and affective disorders, suggesting that infant-attachment relationships program later-life neurobehavioral function. Recent evidence suggests that the effects of maternal presence or absence during this sensory stimulation provide a major modulatory role in neural and endocrine system responses, which have minimal impact on pups' immediate neurobehavior but a robust impact on neurobehavioral development. This concept is reviewed here using two complementary rodent models of infant trauma within attachment: infant paired-odor-shock conditioning (mimicking maternal odor attachment learning) and rearing with an abusive mother that converge in producing a similar behavioral phenotype in later-life including depressive-like behavior as well as disrupted HPA-axis and amygdala function. The importance of maternal social presence on pups' immediate and enduring brain and behavior suggests unique processing of sensory stimuli in early life that could provide insight into the development of novel strategies for prevention and therapeutic interventions for trauma experienced with the abusive caregiver.

Salivary cortisol: a possible biomarker in evaluating stress and effects of interventions in young foster children?

Young foster children undergo an early separation from their caregiver(s) and often experience severe stress before placement. However, a considerable part of the children do not show apparent signs of distress, making it difficult for the foster carer to be aware of the amount of stress in their foster child. Potential evidence for using salivary cortisol levels as a dimension to evaluate the amount of stress in young foster children is reviewed. Moreover, the applicability of salivary cortisol in the evaluation of stress-reducing interventions for young foster children is discussed. A systematic review was performed using the databases Medline, Psychinfo, Embase, Ebscohost, and Academic Search Premier. Nine studies were traced in which salivary cortisol was used to measure stress in children placed in family foster care or in adoptive families. Stress in general but also neglect, early loss of a caregiver, a younger age at first placement, and a higher number of placements were associated with an altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function in foster children. Moreover, four studies on the effect of stress-reducing interventions on HPA-axis functioning of young foster children were found. These studies suggest that caregiver-based interventions can actually help to normalize the HPA-axis function in foster children, and that such changes co-occur with improved behavioral functioning. Although the results from the papers discussed in this review suggest that diurnal cortisol with a wake up and a bedtime measurement may be a relevant tool to evaluate stress in young foster children, this cannot yet be concluded from the present studies, because statistical data from the studies on foster care and adoption in this review were not robust and researchers used different methods to collect the salivary cortisol. Still, it is noteworthy that all studies did find the same pattern of reduced levels in relation to chronic stress (caused by maltreatment and neglect of the child).

Sex-related long-term behavioral and hippocampal cellular alterations after nociceptive stimulation throughout postnatal development in rats

Early noxious stimuli may alter the neurogenesis rate in the dentate gyrus and the behavioral repertoire of adult rats. This study evaluated the long-term effects of noxious stimulation, imposed in different phases of development, on nociceptive and anxiety-like behaviors, hippocampal activation, cell proliferation, hippocampal BDNF and plasma corticosterone levels in 40 day-old male and female adolescents. Noxious stimulation was induced by intra-plantar injection of Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), on postnatal days (P) 1 (group P1), 8 (P8) or 21 (P21). Control animals were not stimulated in any way. On P21 a subset of animals from each group received BrdU and was perfused on P40 for identification of proliferating cells in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Another subset of rats was subjected to behavioral testing on P40 and one week later, to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition. Noxious stimulation evoked hypoalgesia in adolescents, mainly in females (P < 0.02), reflected by greater latency to withdraw the paw and less paw lickings in the hot plate test than controls (P < 0.001). It also resulted in more time spent in the open arms, e.g., less anxiety-like behavior than controls (P < 0.01), especially in females (P < 0.01, compared with males). Proliferative cell rate in the dentate gyrus was the highest in P8 males and females (P < 0.001), with males exhibiting more proliferation than females on P1 and P8, which was directly related to the hippocampal levels of BDNF and inversely related to plasma corticosterone. Sex differences were also detected in manganese-enhanced MRI signal, which was more prominent in P1 females than males (P < 0.01). This study represents the first step of investigation on the cellular basis of the sex-dependent long-term consequences of nociceptive stimuli in newborns.

Evidence for a neuroinflammatory mechanism in delayed effects of early life adversity in rats: relationship to cortical NMDA receptor expression

Postnatal maternal separation in rats causes a reduction of GABAergic parvalbumin-containing interneurons in the prefrontal cortex that first occurs in adolescence. This parvalbumin loss can be prevented by pre-adolescent treatment with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that also protects against excitotoxicity. Therefore, the neuropsychiatric disorders associated with early life adversity and interneuron dysfunction may involve neuroinflammatory processes and/or aberrant glutamatergic activity. Here, we aimed to determine whether delayed parvalbumin loss after maternal separation was due to inflammatory activity, and whether central administration of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 could protect against such loss. We also investigated the effects of maternal separation and IL-10 treatment on cortical NMDA receptor expression. Male rat pups were isolated for 4h/day between postnatal days 2-20. IL-10 was administered intracerebroventricularly through an indwelling cannula between P30 and 38. Adolescent prefrontal cortices were analyzed using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry for parvalbumin and NMDA NR2A subunit expression. We demonstrate that central IL-10 administration during pre-adolescence protects maternally separated animals from parvalbumin loss in adolescence. Linear regression analyses revealed that increased circulating levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 predicted lowered parvalbumin levels in maternally separated adolescents. Maternal separation also increases cortical expression of the NR2A NMDA receptor subunit in adolescence, which is prevented by IL-10 treatment. These data suggest that inflammatory damage to parvalbumin interneurons may occur via aberrant glutamatergic activity in the prefrontal cortex. Our findings provide a novel interactive mechanism between inflammation and neural dysfunction that helps explain deleterious effects of early life adversity on prefrontal cortex interneurons.

The development and neurobiology of infant attachment and fear

Survival of altricial infants depends on attachment to the caregiver - a process that requires infants to identify, learn, remember, and approach their attachment figure. Here we review the neurobiology of attachment in infant rats where learning about the caregiver is supported by a specialized attachment neural circuitry to promote the infant-caregiver relationship. Specifically, the attachment circuit relies on infants acquiring learned preferences to the maternal odor, and this behavior is supported by the hyperfunctioning locus coeruleus and generous amounts of norepinephrine to produce experience-induced changes in the olfactory bulb and anterior piriform cortex. Infants also possess a reduced ability to acquire learned aversions or fear, and this behavior is facilitated through attenuated amygdala plasticity to block fear learning. Presumably, this attachment circuitry constrains the infant animal to express only learned preferences regardless of the quality of care received. As pups mature, and begin to travel in and out of the nest, the specialized attachment learning becomes contextually confined to when pups are with the mother. Thus, when outside the nest, these older pups show learning more typical of adult learning, presumably to prepare for independent life outside the nest. The quality of attachment can alter this circuitry, with early life stress prematurely terminating the pups' access to the attachment system through premature functional activation of the amygdala. Overall, the attachment circuit appears to have a dual function: to keep pups close to the caregiver but also to shape pups' behavior to match the environment and define long-term emotion and cognition.