Maternal stress alters monoamine metabolites in fetal and neonatal rat brain |
| |
| Authors: | L R Herrenkohl U Ribary M Schlumpf W Lichtensteiger |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122. |
| |
| Abstract: | Heat-restraint stress given rats during the last week of gestation significantly altered dopaminergic dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid (DOPAC and HVA) and noradrenergic 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenyl-ethylene glycol (MOPEG) forebrain-hypothalamic monoamine (MA) metabolites in female offspring. On gestational day 21, HVA and MOPEG were significantly higher and lower, and on postnatal day 1 all were higher. There were virtually no differences in brain MA concentrations in males. Thus MA metabolic concentrations differ in fetal-neonatal forebrain-hypothalamus as a function of sex differences and maternal stress. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
