Stress vulnerability during adolescent development in rats

Adolescent development is proposed to represent a time of increased susceptibility to stress. During adolescence, the brain demonstrates a high level of plasticity and can be positively or negatively affected by the environment. This study tests the hypothesis that adolescent development is a stage of enhanced vulnerability to chronic stress. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to our 14-d chronic variable stress (CVS) paradigm at three developmental stages: 1) early adolescence (35 d; age at initiation of CVS); 2) late adolescence (50 d); or 3) adulthood (80 d). We examined the effects of CVS on the following: 1) depression-like behavior; 2) somatic indices; 3) hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity; and 4) neuropeptide expression in the hypothalamus. Results show, regardless of age, CVS exposure: 1) decreased body weight; 2) increased adrenal size; 3) decreased fat weight; and 4) increased HPA response to stress. The somatic effects of CVS were exaggerated in late adolescent animals, and late adolescent animals were the only group where CVS decreased oxytocin expression and increased basal corticosterone. In response to CVS, adult animals increased immobility during the forced-swim test while early and late adolescent animals were resistant to the effects of chronic stress on depression-like behavior. Results show that adolescent animals were protected from the effect of chronic stress on depression-like behavior while late adolescent animals were more susceptible to the somatic, HPA axis, and neuropeptide effects of chronic stress. Thus, adolescent development is a unique window of vulnerabilities and protections to the effects of chronic stress.