Prenatal stress predisposes rats to long-lasting disturbances that persist throughout adulthood (e.g., high anxiety, dysfunction of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, and abnormal circadian timing). These disturbances parallel to a large extent those found in depressed patients, in which hypercortisolemia and sleep alterations may be related to stress-inducing events. We studied sleep-wake parameters in control and prenatally stressed adult rats (3-4 months old) and examined possible relationships with their corticosterone levels (determined at 2 months of age). Under baseline conditions, prenatally stressed rats showed increased amounts of paradoxical sleep, positively correlated to plasma corticosterone levels. Other changes include increased sleep fragmentation, total light slow-wave sleep time, and a slight decrease in the percentage of deep slow-wave sleep relative to total sleep time. During recovery sleep from acute restraint stress, all sleep changes persisted and were correlated with stress-induced corticosterone secretion. High corticosterone levels under baseline conditions as well as an acute stress challenge may thus predict long-term sleep-wake alterations in rats. Taken together with other behavioral and hormonal abnormalities in prenatally stressed animals, the pronounced changes in sleep-wake parameters that are similar to those found in depressed patients suggest that prenatal stress may be a useful animal model of depression.
High corticosterone levels in prenatally stressed rats predict persistent paradoxical sleep alterations / Dugovic, C; Maccari, S; Weibel, L; Turek, F W; Van Reeth, O. - In: THE JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. - ISSN 1529-2401. - 19:19(1999), pp. 8656-8664. [10.1523/jneurosci.19-19-08656.1999]
High corticosterone levels in prenatally stressed rats predict persistent paradoxical sleep alterations
Maccari, S;
1999
Abstract
Prenatal stress predisposes rats to long-lasting disturbances that persist throughout adulthood (e.g., high anxiety, dysfunction of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, and abnormal circadian timing). These disturbances parallel to a large extent those found in depressed patients, in which hypercortisolemia and sleep alterations may be related to stress-inducing events. We studied sleep-wake parameters in control and prenatally stressed adult rats (3-4 months old) and examined possible relationships with their corticosterone levels (determined at 2 months of age). Under baseline conditions, prenatally stressed rats showed increased amounts of paradoxical sleep, positively correlated to plasma corticosterone levels. Other changes include increased sleep fragmentation, total light slow-wave sleep time, and a slight decrease in the percentage of deep slow-wave sleep relative to total sleep time. During recovery sleep from acute restraint stress, all sleep changes persisted and were correlated with stress-induced corticosterone secretion. High corticosterone levels under baseline conditions as well as an acute stress challenge may thus predict long-term sleep-wake alterations in rats. Taken together with other behavioral and hormonal abnormalities in prenatally stressed animals, the pronounced changes in sleep-wake parameters that are similar to those found in depressed patients suggest that prenatal stress may be a useful animal model of depression.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
Dugovic_High-corticosterone-levels_1999.pdf
accesso aperto
Note: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-19-08656.1999
Tipologia:
Licenza (contratto editoriale)
Licenza:
Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione
147.86 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
147.86 kB | Adobe PDF |
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.