The Influence of Neonatal Pro-Inflammatory Stress on the Expression of Genes Associated with Stress in the Brains of Juvenile Rats: Septo-Temporal Specificity

Abstract

We studied the long-term effects of neonatal pro-inflammatory stress (NPS) on the expression of corticoliberin and its receptors in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus of juvenile male and female rats. In the dorsal hippocampus of juvenile males, NPS increases the expression of corticoliberin mRNA. This effect is absent in females, where we found a tendency to an increase in the expression of CRHR2 receptor mRNA in the ventral hippocampus. Thus, NPS induces long-term changes in the expression of genes associated with stress, specifically in different parts of the hippocampus; these changes may be related the mechanism of “early programming” of the predisposition to depression and to the gender-related specificity of disease pathogenesis.