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Adeline Dorothy PD, Rajan KE. Prenatal maternal life adversity impacts on learning and memory in offspring: implication to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Front Neurosci 2025; 19:1518046. [PMID: 40018363 PMCID: PMC11865043 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1518046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2025] [Indexed: 03/01/2025] Open
Abstract
Maternal stress exposure during pregnancy is known to affect offspring behavior, including learning and memory. We hypothesized that maternal stress-induced changes transmit this effect through maternal line mediated transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. To test our hypothesis, pregnant rats (F0) were undisturbed (Control, Ctrl)/exposed to social stress during gestational days (GD) 16-18 (PMS)/exposed to social stress and treated with oxytocin during GD-16 to 18 (PMS+OXT). Subsequently, F1 female offspring from Ctrl, PMS, and PMS+OXT were mated with Ctrl F1 males to examine maternal line mediated transgenerational impacts. Female animals (F1 and F2) were subjected to behavioral test and the levels of global H3K4me2/H3K4me3 methylation, methylation in the CRH promoter, expression of Crh, Crh receptors (Crhr1, Crhr2), and BDNF were determined. It was found that prenatal maternal stress (PMS) reduced reference and working memory in F1 and F2 offspring, increased global and specific H3K4me2, H3K4me3 methylation in the CRH promoter, expression of Crh, Crh receptors, and corticosterone (CORT), and down-regulated the expression of pro-and mature BDNF by differentially regulating Bdnf transcripts III, IV and VI in the amygdala. Oxytocin exposure reduced PMS-induced global and specific H3K4me2/3 changes, which repressed the expression of Crh, Crh receptors, reduced CORT levels, up-regulated the expression of pro-BDNF and mature BDNF, and improved memory in F1 and F2 offspring. Collectively, our study revealed that PMS reduced reference and working memory performance in F1 and F2 offspring through maternal line transgenerational inheritance of H3K4me2, H3K4me3 methylation, and associated mechanisms that regulate BDNF expression and synaptic plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Koilmani Emmanuvel Rajan
- Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Animal Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India
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Khayat S, Fanaei H, Haji Bagheri KA. Social isolation during pregnancy disrupts maternal behavior and hippocampal neurochemistry in rats: A role for BDNF, corticosterone, and GABAARα1. COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY 2025; 21:100282. [PMID: 39911146 PMCID: PMC11795554 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2025.100282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2024] [Revised: 12/27/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2025] [Indexed: 02/07/2025] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effects of social isolation stress during pregnancy on maternal behavior and associated neurochemical changes in the hippocampus of rats. Twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to either a group housing (two rats per cage: control group) or a social isolation stress group (one rat per cage: SI group) during pregnancy. At the end of the study, we assessed the levels of BDNF, corticosterone, and GABAARα1 in the hippocampus of the maternal brain, along with evaluating the endurance, integration, and emotional aspects of maternal behavior. Results indicated that social isolation stress significantly decreased maternal endurance, integration, and emotionality (self-calming) of maternal behavior. Concurrently, blood and the hippocampal corticosterone concentration significantly increased, while BDNF concentration significantly decreased in the SI stress group compared to controls. Moreover, GABAARα1 mRNA expression was significantly decreased in the hippocampus of socially isolated rats. These findings demonstrate that social isolation stress during pregnancy profoundly impacts maternal behaviors in rats, including endurance, integration, and self-soothing. The altered concentration of corticosterone and BDNF, and GABAARα1 mRNA expression in the hippocampus of social isolation group suggests disruptions in stress response regulation and synaptic plasticity during pregnancy to form normal maternal behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samira Khayat
- Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
- Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
| | - Hamed Fanaei
- Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
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Karimi H, Mohamadian M, Azizi P, Ghasemi P, Karimi M, Layegh T, Rahmatkhah-Yazdi M, Vaseghi S. Crocin has a greater therapeutic role in the restoration of behavioral impairments caused by maternal social isolation in adolescent than in adult offspring probably through GSK-3beta downregulation. LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2024; 88:102060. [DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2024.102060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2025]
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Hellmann JK, Rogers MM. The transgenerational consequences of paternal social isolation and predation exposure in threespined sticklebacks. J Anim Ecol 2024; 93:1328-1337. [PMID: 39049666 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14151] [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: 12/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
Parents routinely encounter stress in the ecological environment that can affect offspring development (transgenerational plasticity: TGP); however, parents' interactions with conspecifics may alter how parents respond to ecological stressors. During social buffering, the presence of conspecifics can reduce the response to or increase the speed of recovery from a stressor. This may have cascading effects on offspring if conspecifics can mitigate parental responses to ecological stress in ways that blunt the transmission of stress-induced transgenerational effects. Here, we simultaneously manipulated both paternal social isolation and experience with predation risk prior to fertilisation in threespined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We generated offspring via in-vitro fertilisation to allow us to isolate paternal effects mediated via sperm alone (i.e. in the absence of paternal care). If social buffering mitigates TGP induced by paternal exposure to predation risk, then we expect the transgenerational effects of predation exposure to be weaker when a conspecific is present compared to when the father is isolated. Offspring of predator-exposed fathers showed reduced anxiety-like behaviour and tended to be captured faster by the predator. Fathers who were socially isolated also had offspring that were captured faster by a live predator, suggesting that paternal social isolation may have maladaptive effects on how offspring respond to ecological stressors. Despite additive effects of paternal social isolation and paternal predation risk, we found no evidence of an interaction between these paternal treatments, suggesting that the presence of a conspecific did not buffer fathers and/or offspring from the effects of predation risk. Our results suggest that socially induced stress is an important, yet underappreciated, mediator of TGP and can elicit transgenerational effects even in species that do not form permanent social groups. Future studies should therefore consider how the parental social environment can affect both within and trans-generational responses to ecological stressors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer K Hellmann
- Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Michaela M Rogers
- Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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Kamaei AK, Hosseini SF, Teimourparsaei P, Payamani M, Vaseghi S. The effect of acute crocin on behavioral changes and BDNF expression level in socially isolated rats. NAUNYN-SCHMIEDEBERG'S ARCHIVES OF PHARMACOLOGY 2024; 397:3929-3944. [PMID: 37987792 DOI: 10.1007/s00210-023-02843-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Social isolation is a reliable method used for the induction of depression and psychiatric disorders in rodents. It has been suggested that social isolation can lead to hyperlocomotion, as a schizophrenic-like symptom in rodents. On the other hand, crocin (the major constituent of Crocus sativus) induces a wide-range of neuroprotective and mood enhancer effects. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of acute crocin on social isolation-induced behavioral changes and BDNF expression in the hippocampus. Novelty-suppressed feeding test, open field test, marble burying test, hot plate, forced swim test, and the shuttle box were used to assess anxiety-like behavior, locomotor activity, obsessive-compulsive-like (OCD-like) behavior, pain threshold, depressive-like behavior, and passive avoidance memory, respectively. Real-time PCR was used to assess BDNF hippocampal expression level. The results showed that social isolation decreased anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, pain threshold, and BDNF expression, and induced OCD-like behavior and hyperlocomotion. Crocin dose-dependently restored the effect of social isolation on pain threshold, locomotor activity, depressive-like behavior, OCD-like behavior, and BDNF expression. Passive avoidance memory performance was also unaffected. In conclusion, we showed a hyperlocomotion profile and OCD-like behaviors, and a robust decrease in pain threshold in socially isolated rats. It can be suggested that social isolation from adolescence induces a "hyperlocomotion state" that affects all the behavioral functions of rats. Also, the function of BDNF can be related to a hyperlocomotion state and OCD-like symptom. It seems that BDNF expression level can be related to the therapeutic effect of crocin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir-Kamyar Kamaei
- Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, P.O. Box: 1419815477, Karaj, Iran
| | - Seyedeh-Fatemeh Hosseini
- Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, P.O. Box: 1419815477, Karaj, Iran
| | - Parisa Teimourparsaei
- Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, P.O. Box: 1419815477, Karaj, Iran
| | - Masoumeh Payamani
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Salar Vaseghi
- Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, P.O. Box: 1419815477, Karaj, Iran.
- Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, Karaj, Iran.
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Ji MT, Pashankar N, Harter AM, Nemesh M, Przybyl KJ, Mulligan MK, Chen H, Redei EE. Limited WKY chromosomal regions confer increases in anxiety and fear memory in a F344 congenic rat strain. Physiol Genomics 2024; 56:327-342. [PMID: 38314698 PMCID: PMC11283897 DOI: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00114.2023] [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: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024] Open
Abstract
This study investigated the interaction between genetic differences in stress reactivity/coping and environmental challenges, such as acute stress during adolescence on adult contextual fear memory and anxiety-like behaviors. Fischer 344 (F344) and the inbred F344;WKY-Stresp3/Eer congenic strain (congenic), in which chromosomal regions from the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) strain were introgressed into the F344 background, were exposed to a modified forced swim test during adolescence, while controls were undisturbed. In adulthood, fear learning and memory, assessed by contextual fear conditioning, were significantly greater in congenic animals compared with F344 animals, and stress during adolescence increased them even further in males of both strains. Anxiety-like behavior, measured by the open field test, was also greater in congenic than F344 animals, and stress during adolescence increased it further in both strains of adult males. Whole genome sequencing of the F344;WKY-Stresp3/Eer strain revealed an enrichment of WKY genotypes in chromosomes 9, 14, and 15. An example of functional WKY sequence variations in the congenic strain, cannabinoid receptor interacting protein 1 (Cnrip1) had a Cnrip1 transcript isoform that lacked two exons. Although the original hypothesis that the genetic predisposition to increased anxiety of the WKY donor strain would exaggerate fear memory relative to the background strain was confirmed, the consequences of adolescent stress were strain independent but sex dependent in adulthood. Molecular genomic approaches combined with genetic mapping of WKY sequence variations in chromosomes 9, 14, and 15 could aid in finding quantitative trait genes contributing to the variation in fear memory.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study found that 1) whole genome sequencing of congenic strains should be a criterion for their recognition; 2) sequence variations between Wistar-Kyoto and Fischer 344 strains at regions of chromosomes 9, 14, and 15 contribute to differences in contextual fear memory and anxiety-like behaviors; and 3) stress during adolescence affects these behaviors in males, but not females, and is independent of strain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle T Ji
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
| | - Neha Pashankar
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
| | - Aspen M Harter
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
| | - Mariya Nemesh
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
| | - Katherine J Przybyl
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
| | - Megan K Mulligan
- Department of Genetics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
| | - Hao Chen
- Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
| | - Eva E Redei
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
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