Long-lasting effects of prenatal stress on neurogenesis, gliosis and behavior

AMAICHA DEPINO

La Habana

Congreso; Restauracion Neurologica 2014; 2014

Centro Internacional de Restauracion Neurologica-IBRO Alumni

Prenatal exposure to stressful events can alter the development of the central nervous system and its interactions with the endocrine and immune systems. This plasticity is part of an adaptive mechanism in mammals that contributes to the organism survival. However, by deviating the normal development of the brain, these responses can lead to disorders in adulthood. During pregnancy, maternal reactions to inflammatory stimuli are very common and they usually elicit stress responses in the mother and in the foetus. We investigated how these events can result in altered behaviour in the offspring. In particular, we studied the effects of maternal exposure to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on the offspring behaviour in adulthood. Our work in mice and rats shows that exposure to LPS late during gestation results in impaired novel object recognition. This effect on behaviour correlated with reduced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Conversely, exposure to LPS early during gestation resulted in anxiety- and depression-related behaviours, and neurogenesis was not altered. Specific alterations in microglial activation and cytokine expression were identified. Rescue experiments show that chronically altered brain levels of specific cytokines can mediate the long-lasting effects on behaviour observed after prenatal exposure to maternal inflammatory responses.