TY - JOUR
T1 - Social Defeat Stress During Early Adolescence Confers Resilience Against a Single Episode of Prolonged Stress in Adult Rats
AU - Mancini, Giulia Federica
AU - Marchetta, Enrico
AU - Pignani, Irene
AU - Trezza, Viviana
AU - Campolongo, Patrizia
N1 - Copyright:
This record is sourced from MEDLINE/PubMed, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
PY - 2021/2/9
Y1 - 2021/2/9
N2 - Early-life adverse experiences (first hit) lead to coping strategies that may confer resilience or vulnerability to later experienced stressful events (second hit) and the subsequent development of stress-related psychopathologies. Here, we investigated whether exposure to two stressors at different stages in life has long-term effects on emotional and cognitive capabilities, and whether the interaction between the two stressors influences stress resilience. Male rats were subjected to social defeat stress (SDS, first hit) in adolescence and to a single episode of prolonged stress (SPS, second hit) in adulthood. Behavioral outcomes, hippocampal expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and plasma corticosterone levels were tested in adulthood. Rats exposed to both stressors exhibited resilience against the development of stress-induced alterations in emotional behaviors and spatial memory, but vulnerability to cued fear memory dysfunction. Rats subjected to both stressors demonstrated resilience against the SDS-induced alterations in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression and plasma corticosterone levels. SPS alone altered locomotion and spatial memory retention; these effects were absent in SDS-exposed rats later exposed to SPS. Our findings reveal that exposure to social stress during early adolescence influences the ability to cope with a second challenge experienced later in life.
AB - Early-life adverse experiences (first hit) lead to coping strategies that may confer resilience or vulnerability to later experienced stressful events (second hit) and the subsequent development of stress-related psychopathologies. Here, we investigated whether exposure to two stressors at different stages in life has long-term effects on emotional and cognitive capabilities, and whether the interaction between the two stressors influences stress resilience. Male rats were subjected to social defeat stress (SDS, first hit) in adolescence and to a single episode of prolonged stress (SPS, second hit) in adulthood. Behavioral outcomes, hippocampal expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and plasma corticosterone levels were tested in adulthood. Rats exposed to both stressors exhibited resilience against the development of stress-induced alterations in emotional behaviors and spatial memory, but vulnerability to cued fear memory dysfunction. Rats subjected to both stressors demonstrated resilience against the SDS-induced alterations in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression and plasma corticosterone levels. SPS alone altered locomotion and spatial memory retention; these effects were absent in SDS-exposed rats later exposed to SPS. Our findings reveal that exposure to social stress during early adolescence influences the ability to cope with a second challenge experienced later in life.
KW - BDNF
KW - early-life stress
KW - glucocorticoids
KW - psychopathologies
KW - two-hit model
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U2 - 10.3390/cells10020360
DO - 10.3390/cells10020360
M3 - Article
C2 - 33572375
AN - SCOPUS:85101460464
VL - 10
JO - Cells
JF - Cells
SN - 2073-4409
IS - 2
ER -