The transformation of hormonal stress responses throughout puberty and adolescence

Prepubertal rats display heightened hormonal stress reactivity compared with adults in that levels of ACTH and corticosterone take twice as long (i.e. 40-60 min) to return to baseline following an acute stressor. Despite this substantial change in stress responsiveness, and the critical nature of the adolescence period of development, the maturation of the hormonal stress response from the time of pubertal onset to adulthood has not been thoroughly investigated. To examine this, we measured ACTH, corticosterone, and testosterone in 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-, and 70-day-old (i.e. spanning pubertal and adolescent development) male rats before and after a 30 min session of restraint stress. We found that the adult-like ACTH stress response develops between 50 and 60 days of age, while the corticosterone response changes between 30 and 40 days of age. We also found that adrenal corticosterone concentrations paralleled the plasma corticosterone response following restraint, suggesting that stress-induced adrenal corticosterone synthesis decreases during adolescent development and may, at least in part, contribute to the differential stress response observed before and after puberty. Finally, stress leads to increases in testosterone secretion, but only after 50 days of age. Collectively, these results indicate that shifts in hormonal stress responses occur throughout adolescent maturation and that these responses show distinct developmental profiles.