Premium
Early‐life stress affects behavioral and neurochemical parameters differently in male and female juvenile Wistar rats
Author(s) -
Noschang C.,
Krolow R.,
Arcego D. M.,
Marcolin M.,
Ferreira A. G.,
Cunha A. A.,
Wyse A. T. S.,
Dalmaz C.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1002/jdn.10050
Subject(s) - neurochemical , juvenile , olfactory bulb , hippocampus , weaning , endocrinology , medicine , psychology , developmental psychology , biology , central nervous system , genetics
Neonatal handling is an early life stressor that leads to behavioral and neurochemical changes in adult rats in a sex‐specific manner and possibly affects earlier stages of development. Here, we investigated the effects of neonatal handling (days 1–10 after birth) on juvenile rats focusing on biochemical parameters and olfactory memory after weaning. Male neonatal handled rats performed more crossings on the hole‐board task, increased Na + /K + ‐ATPase activity in the olfactory bulb, and decreased acetylcholinesterase activity in the hippocampus versus non‐handled males. Female neonatal handled animals increased the number of rearing and nose‐pokes on the hole‐board task, decreased glutathione peroxidase activity, and total thiol content in the hippocampus versus non‐handled females. This study reinforces that early life stress affects behavioral and neurochemical parameters in a sex‐specific manner even before the puberty onset.