Article

Prenatal stress suppresses cell proliferation in the early developing brain.

Department of Psychology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.
Neuroreport (impact factor: 1.66). 11/2006; 17(14):1515-8. DOI:10.1097/01.wnr.0000236849.53682.6d pp.1515-8
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Although prenatal stress has been repeatedly shown to inhibit adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of offspring, its effects on embryonic and early postnatal brain development are not well described. Here, using the cell proliferation marker 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine, we examine for the first time the effect of prenatal stress at the embryonic stage on cell proliferation in the hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and amygdala. We show that prenatal stress induces a significant decrease in density of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-positive cells in the nucleus accumbens (40%) and hippocampus (60%), and a nonsignificant decrease in the amygdala (30%). Taken together, these results demonstrate the adverse effects of prenatal maternal stress on early development in limbic brain regions and the potential mechanisms are discussed.

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Keywords

5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-positive cells
 
adverse effects
 
amygdala
 
cell proliferation marker 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine
 
dentate gyrus
 
embryonic stage
 
hippocampus
 
limbic brain regions
 
nonsignificant decrease
 
nucleus accumbens
 
postnatal brain development
 
potential mechanisms
 
prenatal maternal stress
 
prenatal stress
 
prenatal stress induces
 
significant decrease
 

Tomoya Kawamura