دورية أكاديمية
Prenatal psychological stress effects on offspring behaviour in rats.
| العنوان: | Prenatal psychological stress effects on offspring behaviour in rats. |
|---|---|
| المؤلفون: | Pfister, H. Peter, Ivinskis, Algis |
| المصدر: | Australian Journal of Psychology; 1983, Vol. 35 Issue 1, p21-36, 16p |
| مستخلص: | Prenatal stress experienced by the mother usually results in behavioural changes in the offspring. The first part of this study is concerned with the mothers, who were either psychologically stressed or were subjected to a control procedure, during pregnancy. At weaning one-half of each group of mothers was used to establish the glucocorticosterone levels (11-OHCS), which were found to be lower for females of the stress group than the females of the control group. The other half of the mothers of the two groups was used to establish short term stress levels of the glucocorticosterone response. Similar elevations in the stress response for both groups of mothers were obtained. The second part of the study examined the behaviour of the offspring using the open-field. One set of offspring was tested at 45 days of age while another set was tested at 90 days of age. Both ambulation and defecation measures were taken. In addition glucocorticosterone levels were also obtained before and after the open-field testing. The ambulation measure revealed habituation both for animals tested at 45 and 90 days of age. With respect to the defecation measure no significant difference between the groups was obtained at 45 days of age. However, those animals tested at 90 days have a significantly lower defecation score for rats of the stress group as compared to those of the control graup. The major finding of this study is in the glucocorticosterone response. Animals tested at 45 days of age responded with a significant elevation of glucocorticosterone for rats of the stress group as compred with those of the control group. This finding is reversed for those animals tested at 90 days of age. The decrease of glucocorticoids in stressed animals, tested at 90 days of age, can be explained in terms of the traditional view in prenatal psychological stress research, i.e., high levels of 11-OHCS during the prenatal period resulted in a decreased 11-OHCS responsiveness. This is inconsistent with the results obtained at 45 days of age. An alternative explanation is examined which suggests that stressed mothers habituated quickly to the stressor and that during pregnancy pups were subjected to less rather than more of the circulating steroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Australian Journal of Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| قاعدة البيانات: | Complementary Index |
PDF full text from Publisher كن أول من يترك تعليقا!