Adolescent male rats exposed to social defeat exhibit altered anxiety behavior and limbic monoamines as adults.

Full Abstract

Social stress in adolescence is correlated with emergence of psychopathologies during early adulthood. In this study, the authors investigated the impact of social defeat stress during mid-adolescence on adult male brain and behavior. Adolescent male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to repeated social defeat for 5 days while controls were placed in a novel empty cage. When exposed to defeat-associated cues as adults, previously defeated rats showed increased risk assessment and behavioral inhibition, demonstrating long-term memory for the defeat context. However, previously defeated rats exhibited increased locomotion in both elevated plus-maze and open field tests, suggesting heightened novelty-induced behavior. Adolescent defeat also affected adult monoamine levels in stress-responsive limbic regions, causing decreased medial prefrontal cortex dopamine, increased norepinephrine and serotonin in the ventral dentate gyrus, and decreased norepinephrine in the dorsal raphe. Our results suggest that adolescent social defeat produces both deficits in anxiety responses and altered monoaminergic function in adulthood. This model offers potential for identifying specific mechanisms induced by severe adolescent social stress that may contribute to increased adult male vulnerability to psychopathology. Copyright (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Watt, Michael J (MJ); Burke, Andrew R (AR); Renner, Kenneth J (KJ); Forster, Gina L (GL);

Affiliation: Neuroscience Group, Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA. Mick.Watt(-atsign-)usd.edu

Grants: P20 RR015567-050010 (Agency:NCRR NIH HHS) ; P20 RR15567 (Agency:NCRR NIH HHS) ; R01 DA019921 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; R03 MH068364 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Behavioral neuroscience (Behav Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jun; vol 123 (issue 3) : pp 564-76

Dates: Created 2009/06/02; Completed 2009/08/13; Revised 2009/11/04;

PMID: 19485563, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/5/2009, IMS Date: )

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