Analysis of hippocampal synaptic function in a rodent model of early life stress

Early life stress (ELS) is an important risk factor in the aetiology of depression. Developmental glucocorticoid exposure impacts multiple brain regions with the hippocampus being particularly vulnerable. Hippocampal mediated behaviours are dependent upon the ability of neurones to undergo long-term potentiation (LTP), an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) mediated process. In this study we investigated the effect of ELS upon hippocampal NMDAR function.

Hooded Long-Evans rat pups (n=82) were either undisturbed or maternally separated for 180 minutes per day (MS180) between post-natal day (PND) 1 and PND14. Model validation consisted of sucrose preference (n=18) and novelty supressed feeding (NSFT, n=34) tests alongside assessment of corticosterone (CORT) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN) cFos reactivity to stress and hippocampal neurogenesis (all n=18). AMPA/NMDA ratios (n=19), miniEPSC currents (n=19) and LTP (n=15) were assessed in whole-cell patch clamp experiments in CA1 pyramidal neurones.

MS180 animals showed increased feeding latency in the NSFT alongside increased overall CORT in the restraint stress experiment and increased PVN cFos expression in males but no changes in neurogenesis or sucrose preference. MS180 was associated with a lower AMPA/NMDA ratio with no change in miniEPSC amplitude or area. There was no difference in short- or long-term potentiation between MS180 and control animals nor were there any changes during the induction protocol.

The MS180 model showed a behavioural phenotype consistent with previous work. MS180 animals showed increased NMDAR function with preliminary evidence suggesting that this was not concurrent with an increase in LTP.