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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
The relation between pregnancy and stress in rats: considering corticosterone level, hippocampal caspase-3 and MAPK
Maryam Moosavi1, Rasoul Ghasemi, Nader Maghsoudi
1Shiraz Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Physiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. marmoosavi@sums.ac.ir
Objectives:
There are some evidences indicating that stress can affect hippocampal survival and function. During pregnancy mother is exposed to more stress and anxiety; also adrenal gland response to ACTH and glucocorticoid secretion is increased. Hence this study was done to assess the effect of restraint stress on corticosterone level, hippocampal caspase-3 and MAPK activation during pregnancy.
Study Design:
The restraint stress was applied in day 14 or days 14-20 (single and repeated stress) of rats' pregnancy. The hippocampi were isolated after last stress episode and western blot analysis was done to assess caspase-3 and MAPK activation. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls for multiple comparison.
Results:
Our study showed that single and repeated stress both increase corticosterone level compared to non-stressed pregnant rats, but do not induce hippocampal apoptosis. Single stress increases transient JNK activation but not P38 and ERK. Repeated stress activated none of the MAPKs.
Conclusion:
It seems that pregnancy protects mother's hippocampus against stress-induced damages.
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