Korean J Physiol Pharmacol.  2009 Apr;13(2):79-83. 10.4196/kjpp.2009.13.2.79.

Maternal Social Separation of Adolescent Rats Induces Hyperactivity and Anxiolytic Behavior

• Kwak HR
• Lee JW
• Kwon KJ
• Kang CD
• Cheong IY
• Chun W
• Kim SS
• Lee HJ

• KMID: 2071655
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4196/kjpp.2009.13.2.79

Abstract

Exposure to early stressful adverse life events such as maternal and social separation plays an essential role in the development of the nervous system. Adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats that were separated on postnatal day 14 from their dam and litters (maternal social separation, MSS) showed hyperactivity and anxiolytic behavior in the open field test, elevated plus-maze test, and forced-swim test. Biologically, the number of astrocytes was significantly increased in the prefrontal cortex of MSS adolescent rats. The hyperactive and anxiolytic phenotype and biological alteration produced by this MSS protocol may provide a useful animal model for investigating the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders of childhood-onset diseases, such as attention deficient hyperactive disorder.

Keyword

Maternal social separation; Early stress; Adolescence; ADHD

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Animals
Astrocytes
Humans
Models, Animal
Nervous System
Neurobiology
Phenotype
Prefrontal Cortex
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Comparison between controls and maternal social separation (MSS) group on the open-field test. Data are expressed as mean±SEM. ∗∗p<0.01, Significant difference from control (Mann-Whitney U-test).

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  Fig. 2. Effects of maternal and social separation on the elevated plus-maze test. Anxiety-related behavior as reflected by the percentage of entries (A) and time spent (B) on the open arms of the elevated plus-maze by controls and maternal social separation (MSS) rats on PND 35. Data are expressed as mean±SEM. ∗p<0.05, ∗∗p<0.01, Significant difference from control (Mann- Whitney U-test).

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  Fig. 3. Effects of maternal and social separation on the forced swim test. Data are expressed as mean±SEM. ∗∗p<0.01, Significant difference from control (Mann-Whitney U-test).

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  Fig. 4. Representative photomicrographs of GFAP immunoreactivity in the prefrontal cortex of control (A) and MSS (B) rats. Triple images (0.1 mm2) on the frontal cortex 1 and 2 area were obtained, and density of GFAP-positive cells was calculated (C). Data are expressed as mean±SEM. ∗∗p<0.01, Significant difference from control (Mann-Whitney U-test).

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