Prenatal stress has long-term effects on brain opiate receptors

Prenatal stress has been associated with a number of behavioral consequences including altered sensitivity to exogenous opiates. In the present study, mu opiate receptors were compared in the 42-day-old offspring from females stressed on days 15-22 of gestation and from females who were unstressed controls. Membrane homogenates from the prenatal stress group showed less binding of the mu opiate receptor ligand, [3H]DAGO in striatum but not in several other brain regions. Saturation studies suggest this difference is due to fewer striatal mu opiate receptors in offspring of prenatally stressed females. Using in vitro receptor autoradiography, the decreased binding in striatum was found mostly in the rostral striatum, extending into the nucleus accumbens with conservation of the normal anatomic distribution of receptor rich patches.