Sex-Dependent Effects of Prenatal Stress on Learned Helplessness and Anxiety-Related Behaviours in Wistar Rats

  1. Inês Pereira-Figueiredo 1
  2. Consuelo Sancho 123
  3. Juan Carro 13
  4. Dolores E. López 124
  5. Ricardo Gómez-Nieto 124
  6. Orlando Castellano 124
  1. 1 Neuroscience Institute of Castilla y León, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
  2. 2 Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca
    info

    Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03em6xj44

  3. 3 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

  4. 4 Department of Cell Biology and Pathology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
Revista:
Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science

ISSN: 2160-5866 2160-5874

Ano de publicación: 2015

Volume: 5

Número: 7

Páxinas: 251-265

Tipo: Artigo

DOI: 10.4236/JBBS.2015.57026 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso aberto editor

Outras publicacións en: Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science

Resumo

There has been an increasing importance of studies that link sex to stress coping processes. Recently, we reported that male and female Wistar rats responded differently to prenatal stress (PS) under basal conditions. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of sex on behaviour and coping strategies, as an effect of gestational adversity in rats that were exposed to an uncontrollable stressor. Once the animals reached adulthood, the offspring from stressed/non-stressed dams were subjected or not to antidepressant treatment with Sertraline. After that, they were exposed to a single inescapable shock (IS) session, in which the rats were further tested for escape behaviour along 10 days, as a model of learned helplessness (LH). In prenatally stressed animals after the IS, behavioural differences appeared in a sex specific manner. Males proved to be more susceptible to the adverse context than females, exhibiting behavioural despair in a large percentage of the cases. Surprisingly, PS did not affect shock escape failure, but did affect learning performance in a sex dependent manner. In females, PS led them to learn to avoid shocks, learning better than controls, and by contrast, PS males did not learn to avoid shocks and displayed some signs of anhedonia. Sertraline did not help animals to avoid shocks, but helped them to escape from it. Our data indicate the existence of sex dependent behavioural differences in PS animals when facing an uncontrollable stress situation, in which the changes induced by PS were not only different, but opposite between sexes.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Choy, K.H., de Visser, Y.P. and van den Buuse, M. (2009) The Effect of “Two Hit” Neonatal and Young-Adult Stress on Dopaminergic Modulation of Prepulse Inhibition and Dopamine Receptor Density. British Journal of Pharmacology, 156, 388-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476-5381.2008.00008.x
  • García-Cáceres, C., Lagunas, N., Calmarza-Font, I., Azcoitia, I., Diz-Chaves, Y., García-Segura, L.M., et al. (2010) Gender Differences in the Long-Term Effects of Chronic Prenatal Stress on the HPA Axis and Hypothalamic Structure in Rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35, 1525-1535. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.05.006
  • Fujioka, T., Fujioka, A., Tan, N., Chowdhury, G.M.I., Mouri, H., Sakata, Y., et al. (2001) Mild Prenatal Stress Enhances Learning Performance in the Non-Adopted Rat Offspring. Neuroscience, 103, 301-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4522(00)00582-0
  • Leventopoulos, M., Russig, H., Feldon, J., Pryce, C.R. and Opacka-Juffry, J. (2009) Early Deprivation Leads to Long-Term Reductions in Motivation for Reward and 5-HT1A Binding and Both Effects Are Reversed by Fluoxetine. Neuropharmacology, 56, 692-701. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2008.12.005
  • Alleva, E. and Francia, N. (2009) Psychiatric Vulnerability: Suggestions from Animal Models and Role of Neurotrophins. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 525-536. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.09.004
  • Cherian, S.B., Bairy, K.L. and Rao, M.S. (2009) Chronic Prenatal Restraint Stress Induced Memory Impairment in Passive Avoidance Task in Post Weaned Male and Female Wistar Rats. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 47, 893-899.
  • Darnaudéry, M. and Maccari, S. (2008) Epigenetic Programming of the Stress Response in Male and Female Rats by Prenatal Restraint Stress. Brain Research Reviews, 57, 571-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresrev.2007.11.004
  • Abe, H., Hidaka, N., Kawagoe, C., Odagiri, K., Watanabe, Y., Ikeda, T., Ishizuka, Y., et al. (2007) Prenatal Psychological Stress Causes Higher Emotionality, Depression-Like Behavior, and Elevated Activity in the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis. Neuroscience Research, 59, 145-151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2007.06.1465
  • Lehmann, J., Pryce, C.R. and Feldon, J. (2000) Lack of Effect of an Early Stressful Life Event on Sensorimotor Gating in Adult Rats. Schizophrenia Research, 41, 365-371. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0920-9964(99)00080-8
  • Oomen, C.A., Soeters, H., Audureau, N., Vermunt, L., van Hasselt, F.N., Manders, E.M., et al. (2010) Severe Early Life Stress Hampers Spatial Learning and Neurogenesis, but Improves Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity and Emotional Learning under High-Stress Conditions in Adulthood. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 6635-6645. http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0247-10.2010
  • Archer, J.E. and Blackman, D.E. (1971) Prenatal Psychological Stress and Offspring Behavior in Rats and Mice. Developmental Psychobiology, 4, 193-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dev.420040302
  • Gué, M., Bravard, A., Meunier, J., Veyrier, R., Gaillet, S., Recasens, M., et al. (2004) Sex Differences in Learning Deficits Induced by Prenatal Stress in Juvenile Rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 150, 149-157. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(03)00250-X
  • Pereira-Figueiredo, I., Sancho, C., Carro, J., Castellano, O. and Lopez, D.E. (2014) The Effects of Sertraline Administration from Adolescence to Adulthood on Physiological and Emotional Development in Prenatally Stressed Rats of Both Sexes. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 260. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00260
  • Roussel, S., Boissy, A., Montigny, D., Hemsworth, P.H. and Duvaux-Ponter, C. (2005) Gender-Specific Effects of Prenatal Stress on Emotional Reactivity and Stress Physiology of Goat Kids. Hormones and Behavior, 47, 256-266. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.09.010
  • Maier, S.F. (1984) Learned Helplessness and Animal Models of Depression. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology Biological Psychiatry, 8, 435-446. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0278-5846(84)80032-9
  • Brown, L., Rosellini, R.A., Samuels, O.B. and Riley, E.P. (1982) Evidence for a Serotonergic Mechanism of the Learned Helplessness Phenomenon. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 17, 877-883.
  • Dalla, C., Edgecomb, C., Whetstone, A.S. and Shors, T.J. (2008) Females Do Not Express Learned Helplessness Like Males Do. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33, 1559-1569.
  • Steenbergen, H.L., Heinsbroek, R.P., Van Hest, A. and Van de Poll, N.E. (1990) Sex-Dependent Effects of Inescapable Shock Ad-ministration on Shuttlebox-Escape Performance and Elevated Plus-Maze Behavior. Physiology & Behavior, 48, 571-576. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(90)90302-K
  • West, C.H. and Weiss, J.M. (2005) A Selective Test for Antidepressant Treatments Using Rats Bred for Stress-Induced Reduction of Motor Activity in the Swim Test. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 182, 9-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-005-0048-x
  • Zazpe, A., Artaiz, I., Labeaga, L., Lucero, M.L. and Orjales, A. (2007) Reversal of Learned Helplessness by Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in Rats Is Not Dependent on 5-HT Availability. Neuropharmacology, 52, 975-984. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2006.10.014
  • Jourdan, D., Ardid, D., Chapuy, E., Eschalier, A. and Le Bars, D. (1995) Audible and Ultrasonic Vocalization Elicited by Single Electrical Nociceptive Stimuli to the Tail in the Rat. Pain, 63, 237-249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-3959(95)00049-X
  • Kosten, T.A., Miserendino, M.J.D., Bombace, J.C., Lee, H.J. and Kim, J.J. (2005) Sex-Selective Effects of Neonatal Isolation on Fear Conditioning and Foot Shock Sensitivity. Behavioural Brain Research, 157, 235-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2004.07.001
  • Li, S., Wang, C., Wang, M.-W., Murakami, Y. and Matsumoto, K. (2006) Impairment of the Spatial Learning and Memory Induced by Learned Helplessness and Chronic Mild Stress. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 83, 186-193. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2006.01.004
  • Wakizono, T., Sawamura, T., Shimizu, K., Nibuya, M., Suzuki, G., Toda, H., et al. (2007) Stress Vulnerabilities in an Animal Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Physiology & Behavior, 90, 687-695. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.12.008
  • Alonso, S.J., Castellano, M.A., Afonso, D. and Rodriguez, M. (1991) Sex Differences in Behavioral Despair: Relationships between Behavioral Despair and Open Field Activity. Physiology Behavior, 49, 69-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(91)90232-D
  • Nederhof, E. and Schmidt, M.V. (2012) Mismatch or Cumulative Stress: Toward an Integrated Hypothesis of Programming Effects. Physiology Behavior, 106, 691-700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.12.008
  • Blanchard, D.C., Shepherd, J.K., Carobrez, A.P. and Blanchard, R.J. (1991) Sex Effects in Defensive Behavior: Baseline Differences and Drug Interactions. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 15, 461-468. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7634(05)80132-0
  • Hillman, C.H., Hsiao-Wecksler, E.T. and Rosengren, K.S. (2005) Postural and Eye-Blink Indices of the Defensive Startle Reflex. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 55, 45-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2004.06.002
  • Duchesne, A., Dufresne, M.M. and Sullivan, R.M. (2009) Sex Differences in Corticolimbic Dopamine and Serotonin Systems in the Rat and the Effect of Postnatal Handling. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 33, 251-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2008.11.012
  • Sternberg, W.F. (1999) Sex Differences in the Effects of Prenatal Stress on Stress-Induced Analgesia. Physiology & Behavior, 68, 63-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(99)00164-X
  • Takahashi, L.K., Baker, E.W. and Kalin, N.H. (1990) Ontogeny of Behavioral and Hormonal Responses to Stress in Prenatally Stressed Male Rat Pups. Physiology & Behavior, 47, 357-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(90)90154-V
  • Leuner, B., Mendolia-Loffredo, S. and Shors, T.J. (2004) Males and Females Respond Differently to Controllability and Antidepressant Treatment. Biological Psychiatry, 56, 964-970. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.09.018
  • Pittenger, C. and Duman, R.S. (2008) Stress, Depression, and Neuroplasticity: A Convergence of Mechanisms. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33, 88-109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301574
  • Van den Hove, D.L.A., Leibold, N.K., Strackx, E., Martinez-Claros, M., Lesch, K.P., Steinbusch, H.W.M., et al. (2014) Prenatal Stress and Subsequent Exposure to Chronic Mild Stress in Rats; Interdependent Effects on Emotional Behavior and the Serotonergic System. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 24, 595-607. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.09.006
  • Mangiavacchi, S., Masi, F., Scheggi, S., Leggio, B., De Montis, M.G. and Gambarana, C. (2001) Long-Term Behavioral and Neuro-chemical Effects of Chronic Stress Exposure in Rats. Journal of Neurochemistry, 79, 1113-1121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-4159.2001.00665.x
  • Padilla, E., Barrett, D., Shumake, J. and Gonzalez-Lima, F. (2009) Strain, Sex, and Open-Field Behavior: Factors Underlying the Genetic Susceptibility to Helplessness. Behavioural Brain Research, 201, 257-264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2009.02.019
  • Savonenko, A.V., Brush, F.R. and Zielinski, K. (1999) How Do Rats Cope with the Two-Way Escape Problem in a Homogeneous Shuttle Box? Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis (Wars), 59, 145-157.
  • Castellano, O., Moscoso, A., Riolobos, A.S., Carro, J., Arji, M., Molina, V., et al. (2009) Chronic Administration of Risperidone to Healthy Rats: A Behavioural and Morphological Study. Behavioural Brain Research, 205, 488-498. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2009.08.002
  • El Yacoubi, M., Bouali, S., Popa, D., Naudon, L., Leroux-Nicollet, I., Hamon, M., et al. (2003) Behavioral, Neurochemical, and Electrophysiological Characterization of a Genetic Mouse Model of Depression. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100, 6227-6232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1034823100
  • Holbrook, T.L., Hoyt, D.B., Stein, M.B. and Sieber, W.J. (2002) Gender Differences in Long-Term Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Outcomes after Major Trauma: Women Are at Higher Risk of Adverse Outcomes than Men. The Journal of trauma, 53, 882-888. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005373-200211000-00012
  • Seney, M.L. and Sibille, E. (2014) Sex Differences in Mood Disorders: Perspectives from Humans and Rodent Models. Biology of Sex Differences, 5, 17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13293-014-0017-3
  • Shors, T.J., Mathew, J., Sist,i H.M., Edgecomb, C., Beckoff, S. and Dalla, C. (2007) Neurogenesis and Helplessness Are Mediated by Controllability in Males But Not in Females. Biological Psychiatry, 62, 487-495. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.10.033
  • Drago, F., Di Leo, F. and Giardina, L. (1999) Prenatal Stress Induces Body Weight Deficit and Behavioural Alterations in Rats: The Effect of Diazepam. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 9, 239-245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0924-977X(98)00032-7
  • Zuena, A.R., Mairesse, J., Casolini, P., Cinque, C., Alema, G.S., Morley-Fletcher, S., et al. (2008) Prenatal Restraint Stress Generates Two Distinct Behavioral and Neurochemical Profiles in Male and Female Rats. PLoS ONE, 3, e2170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002170
  • Van den Hove, D.L.A., Kenis, G., Brass, A., Opstelten, R., Rutten, B.P.F., Bruschettini, M., et al. (2012) Vulnerability versus Resilience to Prenatal Stress in Male and Female Rats; Implications from Gene Expression Profiles in the Hippocampus and Frontal Cortex. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 23, 1226-1246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2012.09.011
  • Ter Horst, G.J., Wichmann, R., Gerrits, M., Westenbroek, C. and Lin, Y. (2009) Sex Differences in Stress Responses: Focus on Ovarian Hormones. Physiology & Behavior, 97, 239-249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.02.036
  • Frye, C.A. and Wawrzycki, J. (2003) Effect of Prenatal Stress and Gonadal Hormone Condition on Depressive Behaviors of Female and Male Rats. Hormones and Behavior, 44, 319-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0018-506X(03)00159-4
  • Maccari, S. and Morley-Fletcher, S. (2007) Effects of Prenatal Restraint Stress on the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Related Behavioural and Neurobiological Alterations. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 32, S10-S15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.06.005
  • Pereira-Figueiredo, I., Carro, J., Munoz, L.J., Sancho, C., Castellano, O., Gómez-Nieto, R. and López, D.E. (2015) Sex Differences in the Effects of Sertraline and Stressors in Rats Previously Exposed to Restraint Stress. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 8, 399-419. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jbise.2015.87038
  • Broadbear, J.H., Nguyen, T., Clarke, I.J. and Canny, B.J. (2004) Antidepressants, Sex Steroids and Pituitary-Adrenal Response in Sheep. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 175, 247-255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-1811-0
  • Maier, S.F. and Watkins, L.R. (2005) Stressor Controllability and Learned Helplessness: The Roles of the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus, Serotonin, and Corticotropin-Releasing Factor. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 29, 829-841. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.03.021
  • Nowakowska, E., Kus, K., Chodera, A. and Rybakowski, J. (2000) Behavioural Effects of Fluoxetine and Tianeptine, Two Antidepressants with Opposite Action Mechanisms, in Rats. Arzneimittel-Forschung, 50, 5-10.
  • Jeffrey Newport, D., Wilcox, M.M. and Stowe, Z.N. (2001) Antidepressants during Pregnancy and Lactation: Defining Exposure and Treatment Issues. Seminars in Perinatology, 25, 177-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/sper.2001.24901
  • Bilge, S., Bozkurt, A., Bas, D.B., Aksoz, E., Savli, E., Ilkaya, F., et al. (2008) Chronic Treatment with Fluoxetine and Sertraline Prevents Forced Swimming Test-Induced Hypercontractility of Rat Detrusor Muscle. Pharmacological Reports, 60, 872-879.
  • Hale, M.W., Raison, C.L. and Lowry, A. (2013) Integrative Physiology of Depression and Antidepressant Drug Action: Implications for Serotonergic Mechanisms of Action and Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Treatment of Depression. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 137, 108-118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2012.09.005