Prenatal Stress Alters Early Neurobehavior, Stress Reactivity and Learning in Non-human Primates: A Brief Review

Abstract

In this paper we review three prospective longitudinal studies from our laboratory examining the effects of prenatal stress on early neurobehavior, stress reactivity and learning performance in rhesus monkeys. Either a noise stressor or ACTH treatment was administered to pregnant monkeys during specific periods of pregnancy and offspring were examined repeatedly across development. In all three studies, the prenatally stressed monkeys showed reduced attention and impaired neuromotor functioning during the first month of life compared to controls from undisturbed pregnancies. When the monkeys were separated from their mothers or peers at 6–8 months of age, prenatally stressed monkeys exhibited more disturbance behavior and showed hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation. During adolescence, they exhibited impairments in learning, compared to controls.