Sex-related long-term behavioral and hippocampal cellular alterations after nociceptive stimulation throughout postnatal development in rats.

Early noxious stimuli may alter the neurogenesis rate in the dentate gyrus and the behavioral repertoire of adult rats. This study evaluated the long-term effects of noxious stimulation, imposed in different phases of development, on nociceptive and anxiety-like behaviors, hippocampal activation, cell proliferation, hippocampal BDNF and plasma corticosterone levels in 40 day-old male and female adolescents. Noxious stimulation was induced by intra-plantar injection of Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), on postnatal days (P) 1 (group P1), 8 (P8) or 21 (P21). Control animals were not stimulated in any way. On P21 a subset of animals from each group received BrdU and was perfused on P40 for identification of proliferating cells in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Another subset of rats was subjected to behavioral testing on P40 and one week later, to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition. Noxious stimulation evoked hypoalgesia in adolescents, mainly in females (P < 0.02), reflected by greater latency to withdraw the paw and less paw lickings in the hot plate test than controls (P < 0.001). It also resulted in more time spent in the open arms, e.g., less anxiety-like behavior than controls (P < 0.01), especially in females (P < 0.01, compared with males). Proliferative cell rate in the dentate gyrus was the highest in P8 males and females (P < 0.001), with males exhibiting more proliferation than females on P1 and P8, which was directly related to the hippocampal levels of BDNF and inversely related to plasma corticosterone. Sex differences were also detected in manganese-enhanced MRI signal, which was more prominent in P1 females than males (P < 0.01). This study represents the first step of investigation on the cellular basis of the sex-dependent long-term consequences of nociceptive stimuli in newborns.

Long-term gender behavioral vulnerability after nociceptive neonatal formalin stimulation in rats.

The role of sex and gender in accounting for individual pain behaviors is poorly understood. The present study was conducted to determine whether neonatal nociceptive stimuli at postnatal day 1 (PD1) in rats would lead to a differential behavioral impact based on gender. Animals were divided in 4 groups according to treatment (two injections of 4% formalin into the pad of right paws at PD1 or control) and gender. The sensory threshold and cognition tests were performed in adult rats using the hot plate, open field, elevated plus maze and forced swim tests. The number of paw licks was higher in females and in formalin-treated rats (P=0.02), but without interaction between gender and treatment. Exploratory activity was reduced in males (P<0.01), especially in the nociceptive group (P<0.01). Anxiety levels were higher in the female-nociceptive group (P<0.05). Depression-like behavior was more evident among females, independent of treatment. We concluded that a single acute nociceptive stimulation early in development does not affect nociception and depressive behaviors, but is able to alter the exploratory behavior and anxiety levels in adulthood in a gender specific manner.