Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2021 |
Outros Autores: | , , , , , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100615 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100302 |
Resumo: | Prenatal exposure to stress or glucocorticoids (GC) is associated with the appearance of psychiatric diseases later in life. Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, are altered in stress-related disorders. Synthetic GC such as dexamethasone (DEX) are commonly prescribed in case of preterm risk labour in order to promote fetal lung maturation. Recently, we reported long-lasting differences in microglia morphology in a model of in utero exposure to DEX (iuDEX), that presents an anxious phenotype. However, it is still unclear if stress differentially affects iuDEX males and females. In this work, we evaluated how iuDEX animals of both sexes cope with chronic mild stress for 2 weeks. We evaluated emotional behavior and microglia and neuronal morphology in the dorsal hippocampus (dHIP) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), two brain regions involved in emotion-related disorders. We report that males and females prenatally exposed to DEX have better performance in anxiety- and depression-related behavioral tests after chronic stress exposure in adulthood than non-exposed animals. Interestingly, iuDEX animals present sex-dependent changes in microglia morphology in the dHIP (hypertrophy in females) and in the NAc (atrophy in females and hypertrophy in males). After chronic stress, these cells undergo sex-specific morphological remodeling. Paralleled to these alterations in cytoarchitecture of microglia, we report inter-regional differences in dendritic morphology in a sex-specific manner. iuDEX females present fewer complex neurons in the NAc, whereas iuDEX males presented less complex neuronal morphology in the dHIP. Interestingly, these alterations were modified by stress exposure. Our work shows that stressful events during pregnancy can exert a preserved sex-specific effect in adulthood. Although the role of the observed cellular remodeling is still unknown, sex-specific differences in microglia plasticity induced by long-term stress exposure may anticipate differences in drug efficacy in the context of stress-induced anxiety- or depression-related behaviors. |
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Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedoniaChronic stressDorsal hippocampusMicroglia morphologyNucleus accumbensPrenatal stressSexPrenatal exposure to stress or glucocorticoids (GC) is associated with the appearance of psychiatric diseases later in life. Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, are altered in stress-related disorders. Synthetic GC such as dexamethasone (DEX) are commonly prescribed in case of preterm risk labour in order to promote fetal lung maturation. Recently, we reported long-lasting differences in microglia morphology in a model of in utero exposure to DEX (iuDEX), that presents an anxious phenotype. However, it is still unclear if stress differentially affects iuDEX males and females. In this work, we evaluated how iuDEX animals of both sexes cope with chronic mild stress for 2 weeks. We evaluated emotional behavior and microglia and neuronal morphology in the dorsal hippocampus (dHIP) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), two brain regions involved in emotion-related disorders. We report that males and females prenatally exposed to DEX have better performance in anxiety- and depression-related behavioral tests after chronic stress exposure in adulthood than non-exposed animals. Interestingly, iuDEX animals present sex-dependent changes in microglia morphology in the dHIP (hypertrophy in females) and in the NAc (atrophy in females and hypertrophy in males). After chronic stress, these cells undergo sex-specific morphological remodeling. Paralleled to these alterations in cytoarchitecture of microglia, we report inter-regional differences in dendritic morphology in a sex-specific manner. iuDEX females present fewer complex neurons in the NAc, whereas iuDEX males presented less complex neuronal morphology in the dHIP. Interestingly, these alterations were modified by stress exposure. Our work shows that stressful events during pregnancy can exert a preserved sex-specific effect in adulthood. Although the role of the observed cellular remodeling is still unknown, sex-specific differences in microglia plasticity induced by long-term stress exposure may anticipate differences in drug efficacy in the context of stress-induced anxiety- or depression-related behaviors.2021-05info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://hdl.handle.net/10316/100615http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100615https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100302eng2352-28953361486433614864336148643361486433614864336148643361486433614864336148643361486433614864Gaspar, RitaSoares-Cunha, CarinaDomingues, Ana VerónicaCoimbra, BárbaraBaptista, Filipa I.Pinto, LuísaAmbrósio, AntónioRodrigues, Ana JoãoGomes, Catarina A.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2022-07-07T20:31:09Zoai:estudogeral.uc.pt:10316/100615Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T21:17:57.942901Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
title |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
spellingShingle |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia Gaspar, Rita Chronic stress Dorsal hippocampus Microglia morphology Nucleus accumbens Prenatal stress Sex |
title_short |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
title_full |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
title_fullStr |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
title_sort |
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morphology in a rat model of anxiety and anhedonia |
author |
Gaspar, Rita |
author_facet |
Gaspar, Rita Soares-Cunha, Carina Domingues, Ana Verónica Coimbra, Bárbara Baptista, Filipa I. Pinto, Luísa Ambrósio, António Rodrigues, Ana João Gomes, Catarina A. |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Soares-Cunha, Carina Domingues, Ana Verónica Coimbra, Bárbara Baptista, Filipa I. Pinto, Luísa Ambrósio, António Rodrigues, Ana João Gomes, Catarina A. |
author2_role |
author author author author author author author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Gaspar, Rita Soares-Cunha, Carina Domingues, Ana Verónica Coimbra, Bárbara Baptista, Filipa I. Pinto, Luísa Ambrósio, António Rodrigues, Ana João Gomes, Catarina A. |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Chronic stress Dorsal hippocampus Microglia morphology Nucleus accumbens Prenatal stress Sex |
topic |
Chronic stress Dorsal hippocampus Microglia morphology Nucleus accumbens Prenatal stress Sex |
description |
Prenatal exposure to stress or glucocorticoids (GC) is associated with the appearance of psychiatric diseases later in life. Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, are altered in stress-related disorders. Synthetic GC such as dexamethasone (DEX) are commonly prescribed in case of preterm risk labour in order to promote fetal lung maturation. Recently, we reported long-lasting differences in microglia morphology in a model of in utero exposure to DEX (iuDEX), that presents an anxious phenotype. However, it is still unclear if stress differentially affects iuDEX males and females. In this work, we evaluated how iuDEX animals of both sexes cope with chronic mild stress for 2 weeks. We evaluated emotional behavior and microglia and neuronal morphology in the dorsal hippocampus (dHIP) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), two brain regions involved in emotion-related disorders. We report that males and females prenatally exposed to DEX have better performance in anxiety- and depression-related behavioral tests after chronic stress exposure in adulthood than non-exposed animals. Interestingly, iuDEX animals present sex-dependent changes in microglia morphology in the dHIP (hypertrophy in females) and in the NAc (atrophy in females and hypertrophy in males). After chronic stress, these cells undergo sex-specific morphological remodeling. Paralleled to these alterations in cytoarchitecture of microglia, we report inter-regional differences in dendritic morphology in a sex-specific manner. iuDEX females present fewer complex neurons in the NAc, whereas iuDEX males presented less complex neuronal morphology in the dHIP. Interestingly, these alterations were modified by stress exposure. Our work shows that stressful events during pregnancy can exert a preserved sex-specific effect in adulthood. Although the role of the observed cellular remodeling is still unknown, sex-specific differences in microglia plasticity induced by long-term stress exposure may anticipate differences in drug efficacy in the context of stress-induced anxiety- or depression-related behaviors. |
publishDate |
2021 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2021-05 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100615 http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100615 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100302 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100615 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100302 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
2352-2895 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 33614864 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
instname_str |
Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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1799134074977124352 |