Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

2-28-2026

Journal

Neurochemical Research

DOI

10.1007/s11064-026-04672-3

PMID

41762310

PMCID

PMC12950096

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

2-28-2026

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Prenatal stress is related to the development of psychiatric disorders involving inflammation, oxidative stress, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of prenatal stress on behavior, inflammation, oxidative stress, and the HPA-axis in the dams and their offspring treated with lithium. Thirteen pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to a prenatal chronic unpredictable stress protocol from the 14th day of gestation until birth. At the 60th postnatal day (PND), a treatment protocol was carried out in the offspring with lithium (intraperitoneally - 47.5 mg/kg) or saline for seven days (twice a day). The behavior was assessed in the open field test to evaluate free movements. The dams (21 PND) and offspring (after open field) were euthanized, their brains were dissected in frontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, and the serum was collected. In the brain and/or serum, the levels of oxidative stress, inflammation, and HPA axis parameters were evaluated. Female offspring from stressed dams showed hyperactivity. Besides behavior alterations, offspring brain and serum showed an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative damage markers, and HPA axis hormones levels. Lithium administration only reduced the biochemical alterations. The prenatal stress protocol induced long-lasting behavior, inflammatory, oxidative stress, and HPA-axis alterations in the offspring which could underlie the development of psychiatric disorders.

Keywords

Animals, Female, Oxidative Stress, Pregnancy, Rats, Wistar, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Inflammation, Rats, Stress, Psychological, Behavior, Animal, Male, Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, Inflammation, Prenatal exposure delayed effects, Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis

Published Open-Access

yes

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