scholarly journals Animal Models and Their Contribution to Our Understanding of the Relationship Between Environments, Epigenetic Modifications, and Behavior

Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Ledo Husby Phillips ◽  
Tania L. Roth
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Human Biology ◽  
Environmental Toxicants ◽  
Immune Challenges ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Relationship

The use of non-human animals in research is a longstanding practice to help us understand and improve human biology and health. Animal models allow researchers, for example, to carefully manipulate environmental factors in order to understand how they contribute to development, behavior, and health. In the field of behavioral epigenetics such approaches have contributed novel findings of how the environment physically interacts with our genes, leading to changes in behavior and health. This review highlights some of this research, focused on prenatal immune challenges, environmental toxicants, diet, and early-life stress. In conjunction, we also discuss why animal models were integral to these discoveries and the translational relevance of these discoveries.

scholarly journals Got Milk? Maternal immune activation during the mid-lactational period affects nutritional milk quality and adolescent offspring sensory processing in male and female rats

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly DeRosa ◽  
Hieu Tran ◽  
Amanda C Kentner
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Immune Activation ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Maternal Immune Activation ◽  
Adolescent Offspring ◽  
And Behavior

The neonatal environment requires a high level of maternal demand in terms of both breastfeeding and other forms of maternal care. Previous studies have underscored the importance of these maternal factors on offspring development and behavior. However, their contribution as dynamic variables in animal models of early life stress are often overlooked. In the present study, we show that lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced maternal immune activation (MIA) on postnatal day (P)10 immediately elevated milk corticosterone concentrations, which recovered by P11. In contrast, both milk triglyceride and percent creamatocrit values demonstrated a prolonged decrease following inflammatory challenge. Sustained inflammatory-induced changes to the nutritional quality of milk were also evidenced by its composition of microbial communities associated with inefficient energy and lipid metabolism. Nutritional deficits in early development have been associated with metabolic dysfunction later in life. Indeed, MIA-associated changes in the nutritional profile of milk were reflected by increased adolescent offspring bodyweights. While MIA did not decrease maternal care quality, there was a significant compensatory increase in maternal licking and grooming the day that followed the inflammatory challenge. However, this did not protect against disrupted neonatal huddling or later-life alterations in sensorimotor gating and mechanical allodynia in MIA offspring. Animal models of early life stress can impact both parents and their offspring. One mechanism that can mediate the effects of such stressors is changes to maternal lactation quality which our data show can confer multifaceted and compounding effects on offspring physiology and behavior.

Early-life stress mediated modulation of adult neurogenesis and behavior

2012 ◽  
Vol 227 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Korosi ◽  
E.F.G. Naninck ◽  
C.A. Oomen ◽  
M. Schouten ◽  
H. Krugers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Neurogenesis ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
And Behavior

scholarly journals Early-life stress origins of gastrointestinal disease: animal models, intestinal pathophysiology, and translational implications

2015 ◽  
Vol 309 (12) ◽  
pp. G927-G941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin S. Pohl ◽  
Julia E. Medland ◽  
Adam J. Moeser
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Disease Susceptibility ◽  
Gastrointestinal Disease ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Early Postnatal Development ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Fundamental Understanding

Early-life stress and adversity are major risk factors in the onset and severity of gastrointestinal (GI) disease in humans later in life. The mechanisms by which early-life stress leads to increased GI disease susceptibility in adult life remain poorly understood. Animal models of early-life stress have provided a foundation from which to gain a more fundamental understanding of this important GI disease paradigm. This review focuses on animal models of early-life stress-induced GI disease, with a specific emphasis on translational aspects of each model to specific human GI disease states. Early postnatal development of major GI systems and the consequences of stress on their development are discussed in detail. Relevant translational differences between species and models are highlighted.

scholarly journals Animal models of early life stress: Implications for understanding resilience

2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 402-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lyons ◽  
Karen J. Parker ◽  
Alan F. Schatzberg
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life Stress

scholarly journals Hippocampal astroglial hypertrophy in mice subjected to early life maternal deprivation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnab Nandi ◽  
Garima Virmani ◽  
Swananda Marathe
Keyword(s):  
Immune Responses ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Maternal Separation ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Stratum Radiatum ◽  
Late Adulthood ◽  
Synaptic Physiology ◽  
And Behavior

Early-life stress (ELS), including chronic deprivation of maternal care, exerts persistent life-long effects on animal physiology and behavior, and is associated with several neurodevelopmental disorders. Long-lasting changes in neuronal plasticity and electrophysiology are documented extensively in the animal models of ELS. However, the role of astroglia in the lasting effects of ELS remains elusive. Astrocytes are intricately involved in the regulation of synaptic physiology and behavior. Moreover, astrocytes play a major role in the innate and adaptive immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS). The role of immune responses and neuroinflammation in the altered brain development and persistent adverse effects of ELS are beginning to be explored. Innate immune response in the CNS is characterized by a phenomenon called astrogliosis, a process in which astrocytes undergo hypertrophy, along with changes in gene expression and function. While the immune activation and neuroinflammatory changes concomitant with ELS, or in juveniles and young adults have been reported, it is unclear whether mice subjected to ELS exhibit astrogliosis-like alterations well into late-adulthood. Here, we subjected mice to maternal separation from postnatal day 2 to day 22 and performed comprehensive morphometric analysis of hippocampal astrocytes during late-adulthood. We found that the astrocytes in the stratum radiatum region of the CA1 hippocampal subfield from maternally separated mice exhibit significant hypertrophy as late as 8 months of age, revealing the crucial changes in astrocytes that manifest long after the cessation of ELS. This study highlights the persistence of neuroinflammatory changes in mice exposed to ELS.

scholarly journals The role of emotion regulation as a mediator between early life stress and posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety in Syrian refugees

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaynab Demir ◽  
Kerem Böge ◽  
Yan Fan ◽  
Corinna Hartling ◽  
Mazen R. Harb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Emotion Regulation ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Early life stress is an important factor in later psychopathology, including symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of early life stress on psychiatric symptoms within a sample of Syrian refugees. In this model, the use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies was assessed as a potential mediator of the relationship between early life stress and current symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Bootstrap analyses were generated to test the indirect effect of emotion regulation (Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) on the relationship between early life stress (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), PTSD (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire), depressive (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) symptoms in eighty-nine Syrian refugees resided in Germany (n = 49) and Jordan (n = 40). The indirect effect of maladaptive strategies was significant between early life stress and psychopathology, whereas the mediation effect of adaptive strategies was not significant. The findings provide an evidence that emotional dysregulation is an underlying factor affecting psychological symptoms in refugees with adverse childhood experiences. These results suggest targeting cognitive emotion regulation in prospective prevention and treatment strategies.

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