Abstract
Methamphetamine (MA) is an addictive psychostimulant, often abused by drug-addicted women during pregnancy. The offspring of drug-addicted mothers are often exposed to perinatal stressors. The present study examines the effect of perinatal stressors and drug exposure on plasma oxytocin (OXY) levels in female progeny. Rat mothers were divided into three groups according to drug treatment during pregnancy: intact controls (C); saline (SA, s.c., 1 ml/kg); and MA (s.c., 5 mg/kg). Litters were divided into four groups according to postnatal stressors lasting from PD1 to 21: non-stressed controls (N); maternal separation (S); maternal cold-water stress (W); and maternal separation plus cold-water stress (SW). On postnatal day 30, acute MA or SA was administrated 1 h before the rats were sacrificed. Trunk blood was collected and plasma OXY was measured by specific ELISA after extraction. Our results showed that acute MA administration significantly increases plasma OXY levels in juvenile female rats; this effect was observed in prenatally intact rats only. Prenatal exposure of rats to mild stressor of daily SA injection prevented both acute MA-induced OXY stimulation and also stress-induced OXY inhibition. Although postnatal MA and stress exposure exert opposite effects on OXY release in juvenile rats, our data point out the modulatory role of prenatal mild stress in OXY response to postnatal stressors or MA treatment.
Highlights
Exposure to stress early in life may be associated with impairment of neurological and endocrine development that can contribute to various long-lasting pathologies (Heim and Nemeroff, 2001; Marais et al, 2008; Lajud et al, 2012; Holubová et al, 2018)
There were no significant changes between acute SA and acute MA administration in the rats prenatally exposed to SA or MA in all groups under study (Figures 2A–D)
Since repeated prenatal MA exposure activated OXY secretion for as long as 23 days, its elevated levels might have downregulated the sensitivity to subsequent single MA administration and no significant additive effect of acute MA was manifested
Summary
Exposure to stress early in life may be associated with impairment of neurological and endocrine development that can contribute to various long-lasting pathologies (Heim and Nemeroff, 2001; Marais et al, 2008; Lajud et al, 2012; Holubová et al, 2018). Some preclinical and clinical studies have found that the changes in peripheral plasma OXY levels are synchronized with changes in central OXY levels (Wang et al, 2013; Carson et al, 2015; Baracz et al, 2016). Besides other effects, this hormone regulates social relationships and sexual bonding, as well as aggression, stress, and anxiety (Baskerville and Douglas, 2010)
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