Prenatal stress produces sex-specific changes in depression-like behavior in rats: implications for increased vulnerability in females

• Published in: Journal of developmental origins of health and disease Vol. 6; no. 5; pp. 462 - 474
• Main Authors: Sickmann, H. M., Arentzen, T. S., Dyrby, T. B., Plath, N., Kristensen, M. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Anxiety; Behavior; Behavior, Animal; Comorbidity; Depressive Disorder - etiology; Disease Models, Animal; Emotional disorders; Fasting; Female; Females; Gender differences; Gene expression; Humans; Investigations; Male; Mental depression; Original Article; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - physiopathology; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - psychology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rodents; Sex Factors; Stress; Stress, Physiological; Stress, Psychological - complications; Swimming; Weaning; locomotor and rearing/climbing activity; elevated plus maze; HPA axis; sex differences; forced swim test

Stress during rat gestation can elicit depression-like physiological and behavioral responses in the offspring. However, human clinical depression is more prevalent among females than males. Accordingly, we examined how repeated variable prenatal stress (PS) alters rat anxiety- and depression-like b...