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Postnatal separation prevents the development of prenatal stress‐induced anxiety in association with changes in oestrogen receptor and oxytocin immunoreactivity in female mandarin vole ( Microtus mandarinus ) offspring
Author(s) -
He Fengqin,
Wang Zijian,
Guo Guanlin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/ejn.13788
Subject(s) - offspring , anxiogenic , endocrinology , medicine , stria terminalis , elevated plus maze , supraoptic nucleus , oxytocin receptor , oxytocin , open field , hypothalamus , psychology , estrogen , anxiety , biology , receptor , anxiolytic , pregnancy , psychiatry , genetics
Oestrogen has both anxiogenic and anxiolytic effects because of variation in opposing action on alpha ( ER α) and beta ( ER β) estrogen receptors in the medial preoptic area ( mPOA ), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis ( BNST ) and medial amygdala (MeA). Oxytocin ( OT ) reverses some of the anxiogenic effects of oestrogen in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus ( PVN ) and supraoptic nucleus ( SON ). Because anxiety disorders are twice as common in women as in men, and oestrogen and OT are more important in females, we examined interactions between prenatal restraint stress ( GS ) and postnatal early short‐term maternal separation ( MS ) and female mandarin vole behaviour, estrogen receptors and OT . The results show that adult female offspring from GS /no MS mothers showed increased anxiety in open‐field and elevated plus‐maze tests and had lower serum 17‐beta‐oestradiol (E 2 ) levels than female offspring from GS / MS , no GS / MS and no GS /no MS mothers. GS /no MS females had more immunoreactive neurons for ER α in several brain regions and less ER β‐ and OT ‐immunoreactive neurons in brain areas compared to GS / MS , no GS / MS and no GS /no MS offspring. Interestingly, no GS / MS and GS / MS offspring were similar to no GS /no MS offspring in that they did not develop anxiety as adults. We propose that MS alters the serum concentration of E 2 and that the ER β/ ER α ratio and OT level in the brain may be responsible for the decrease in anxiety‐like behaviour in adult female offspring initially exposed to anxiety‐inducing conditions via an adverse foetal environment.