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Updated: Apr 13, 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 hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in prenatal stressed female rats in the model of posttraumatic
Abstract:
The effects of immobilization stress from 15th to 19th days of gestation on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity in the model of posttraumatic stress disorder (stress-restress paradigm) in adult female offspring were studied. The results showed that prenatal stressed female rats demonstrated enhanced stress reactivity and hypersensitive glucocorticoid feedback of HPA in response to the restress procedure. Moreover, decrease in basal level of corticosterone was detected only in prenatal stressed female rats. Immunocytochemical staining revealed that the effects of stress-restress procedure in control female rats were accompanied by the rise in corticotropin-releasing hormone immunoreactivity in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, although over-expression of hypothalamic vasopressin was founded only in prenatal stressed rats. These data suggest that hypothalamic vasopressin was involved predominantly in posttraumatic stress disorder-like state in prenatal stressed female rats.
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