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Maternal melatonin administration in stressed dams ameliorated risk-taking behaviors in rat pups through improvement of maternal care
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Farzaneh Bagheri   , Iran Goudarzi |
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Abstract: (273 Views) |
Introduction: Anxiety and depression frequently occur concurrently or sequentially in childhood and adolescence in association with prenatal stress. Prenatal may reduce the quality of maternal care and subject children to mood disorders in later life. In this study, we used melatonin, a powerful antioxidant to ameliorate risk-taking behavior induced by pure maternal care in rat pups.
Methods and Materials: Wistar rat dams were exposed to restraint stress from gestational day (GD) 11 until delivery. Dams received melatonin (10mg/kg) from postnatal day (PD) 0-7 by IP injection. Pregnant rats were divided into 4 groups: control, stress, stress+melatonin, and melatonin. Maternal behavior and corticosterone levels were observed in mothers. In the offspring, behavioral tasks including elevated plus maze and open-field tests were assessed.
Results: Quantity and quality of maternal care significantly decreased and plasma corticosterone levels increased in stressed mothers. Melatonin treatment improved the dam’s nursing behavior and reduced its plasma corticosterone level. The offspring's performance in two tasks showed an increase in risk-taking behavior in the stress group and melatonin ameliorated the stress effects and decreased their anxiety behavior.
Conclusion: We conclude that restraint prenatal stress impairs stress response and quality of maternal care, whereas melatonin potentially participates in the normalization of stress reaction
and anxiolysis.
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| Keywords: early-life stress, risk-taking behavior, maternal behavior, melatonin, rat |
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Full-Text [PDF 316 kb]
(31 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
General
Received: 2024/02/8 | Accepted: 2023/08/23 | Published: 2023/08/23
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