Neonatal proinflammatory challenge in male Wistar rats: Effects on behavior, synaptic plasticity, and adrenocortical stress response.

Effects of neonatal proinflammatory stress (NPS) on the development of anxiety and depressive-like behavior, stress responsiveness, hippocampal plasticity and conditioned fear response were studied in adolescent and adult male Wistar rats. On PND 3 and PND 5, the pups were subcutaneously injected with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 50 µg/kg). In the open field test, signs of increased anxiety were demonstrated in adolescent (PND 32), but not in adult (PND 101) rats. In the elevated plus maze, no changes could be detected in adolescent rats, however, in the adults the number of entries into the open arms decreased suggesting increased anxiety after NPS. Signs of "behavioral despair" in the forced swim test, expressed in adolescent rats as a trend, became significant in the adults indicating depression-like behavior. In the majority of brain slices from PND 19-PND 33 rats subjected to NPS, deficit of LTP in the hippocampal CA1 field was detected, this deficit being associated with the impaired mechanisms of LTP induction. In the adult rats, NPS enhanced fear conditioning promoting improved formation of the novel context-foot shock association in the contextual fear conditioning paradigm without effect on cued fear conditioning. NPS significantly impaired functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA), resulting in an elevated corticosterone level maintained in the adolescents but not in the adults and in modified corticosterone response to behavioral sub-chronic stress in both adolescent and adult rats. Thus, NPS induces "perinatal malprogramming" resulting in development of depression-like behaviors, associated with abnormalities in functioning of the HPAA, impaired hippocampal neuroplasticity (LTP) and changes in hippocampus-dependent memory formation.

Chronic combined stress induces selective and long-lasting inflammatory response evoked by changes in corticosterone accumulation and signaling in rat hippocampus.

Hippocampus is believed to be selectively vulnerable to stress. We hypothesized that this phenomenon may be mediated by relatively high vulnerability to neuroinflammation related to impairments of local glucocorticoid metabolism and signaling. We have evaluated inflammatory responses induced by acute or chronic combined stress in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus as well as circulating and brain corticosterone (CS) levels as well as expression of corticosterone target genes. The hippocampus showed higher stress-induced expression of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1ß as compared to the cerebral cortex. A month after the termination of the chronic stress, IL-1ß mRNA in the cerebral cortex reached control level, while in the hippocampus it remained significantly increased. Under chronic stress, the maladaptive inflammatory response in hippocampus was accompanied by a significant increase in local CS levels, as compared to cerebral cortex. Under acute stress, the increased CS level induced changes in CS-regulated genes expression (CRF and IGF1), while this phenomenon was not observed after chronic stress. Thus, the hippocampus appears to be more vulnerable to stress-induced inflammation as compared to the neocortex and demonstrates persistent inflammatory response induced by chronic stress. Stress-induced maladaptive inflammatory response is associated with a selective increase in hippocampal CS accumulation and changes in CS signaling.

Anhedonia but not passive floating is an indicator of depressive-like behavior in two chronic stress paradigms.

Depression is the most common form of mental disability in the world. Depressive episodes may be precipitated by severe acute stressful events or by mild chronic stressors. Studies on the mechanisms of depression require both appropriate experimental models (most of them based on the exposure of animals to chronic stressors), and appropriate tests for assessment of depressive states. In this study male Wistar rats were exposed to two different chronic stress paradigms: an eight-week chronic unpredictable mild stress or a two-week combined chronic stress. The behavioral effects of stress were evaluated using sucrose preference, forced swim and open field tests. After the exposure to chronic unpredictable mild stress, anhedonia was developed, activity in the open field increased, while no changes in the duration of passive floating could be detected. After chronic combined stress, anhedonia was also evident, whereas behavior in the open field and forced swim test did not change. The levels of corticosterone in the blood and brain structures involved in stress-response did not differ from control in both experiments. The absence of significant changes in corticosterone levels and passive floating may be indicative of the adaptation of animals to chronic stress. Anhedonia appears to be a more sensitive indicator of depressive-like behavioral effects of chronic stress as compared to behavior in the forced swim or open field tests.

Region-specific changes in activities of cell death-related proteases and nitric oxide metabolism in rat brain in a chronic unpredictable stress model.

Effects of a chronic combined unpredictable stress on activities of two cell death-related proteases, calpain and cathepsin B, were studied along with indices of nitrergic system in rat brain structures. Male Wistar rats were subjected to a 2-week-long combined stress (combination of unpaired flash light and moderate footshock associated with a white noise session). Stress resulted in a significant loss in the body and thymus weight and increased defecation in the open field test, though neither motor and exploratory activity, nor plasma corticosterone differed from the respective control levels. Decreased calpain activity and increased cathepsin B activity were demonstrated in the hippocampus of stressed rats (previously we have shown that caspase-3 activity was significantly suppressed in the brain of rats subjected to same type of stress). A significant reduction in the number of NOS-containing neurons was accompanied by a chronic stressinduced decline in NOS activity in the neocortex. Similar changes were observed in the hippocampus. However, levels of NO metabolites were elevated in both structures. Thus, stress-induced structural modifications in the brain may be mediated by disturbances in the nitrergic system and increased lysosomal proteolysis.