Maternal Separation and Chronic Variable Stress during adulthood: Implications for Glucocorticoid Receptors Expression in Limbic areas related to Anxiety and treatment with tricyclic antidepressant Amitriptyline

COTELLA, EVELIN M.; DURANDO, PATRICIA E.; SUÁREZ, MARTA M.

Huerta Grande, Pcia. de Córdoba, Argentina

Congreso; XXVII Annual Meeting of the Argentinean Society for Neuroscience; 2012

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencia

During early life, environment promotes different pathways of expression of molecules in the brain which will determine diverging responses to stress in adulthood. This involves two types of receptors for corticosteroid: mineralocorticoid (MR) and glucocorticoid (GR) receptors. The aim of this work was evaluate changes after chronic variable stress (CVS) in rats previously early maternally separated (MS). We measured anxiety-like behavior and immunoreactivity (IR) of GR and MR in Amygdala and Septum, areas related to the control that behavior. During the CVS protocol in adulthood, animals were treated with Amitriptyline (AMI) (10 mg/Kg i.p.). Concerning GR, CVS evoked a slight rise in GR-IR in non-MS rats which was effectively prevented by AMI in the Medial Amigdaloid Nucleus (MeAm). Regarding MR, MS evoked less MR neurons in Central Amigdaloid Nucleus which was prevented by AMI and more MR-IR in Septohippocampal nucleus with no effect of AMI or CVS. The combination of MS and CVS and AMI produced diminution of MR-IR in Central Amygdala. Similar effect was observed in MeAm. No effect of the combination on Septum. Regarding anxiety-like behavior, CVS evoked a marked tendency to increase anxiety and AMI exerted an anxiolytic effect on these animals. When CVS was combined with MS, the anxiogenic effect was potentiated and it was not reversed by the antidepressant because the combination also evoked less motility activity.