Maternal antioxidant treatment has anxiolytic and anti-depressant effects in prenatally stressed rats

1. Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK.
2. School of Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol, Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK.

Prenatal social stress has been previously shown to result in heightened anxiety behaviour in the adult male offspring [1, 2]. This study aims to characterise if prenatal social stress has an effect on depressive-like behaviours, and whether maternal administration of an antioxidant can abrogate anxiety behaviour in the offspring. The antioxidant, mitoquinone encased in nanoparticles (MitoQ-NP), does not cross the placental barrier and has previously been shown to prevent some of the effects of another paradigm of prenatal stress (hypoxic stress).

MitoQ-NP or saline was administered intravenously to pregnant dams on day 16 of gestation. Dams were then left undisturbed or subjected to social stress (resident-intruder paradigm) on days 16-20. Male and female offspring were tested during adulthood on the light-dark box (LDB) and elevated plus maze (EPM) to assess anxiety-like behaviour, followed by the sucrose preference test (SPT) and forced swim test (FST) to assess depressive-like behaviour

Prenatal social stress resulted in heightened anxiety-like behaviour in both the LDB and EPM in the adult male offspring and maternal MitoQ-NP treatment prevented this anxious behaviour. Neither the male or female prenatally stressed offspring exhibited a depressive-like phenotype in the FST or SPT compared with controls. Administration of maternal MitoQ-NP, however, decreased floating behaviour in male and female control and prenatally stressed offspring, indicating an anti-depressant effect.

References

[1]    Brunton PJ & Russell JA (2010) J Neuroendocrinol 22:258-71. [2]    Brunton PJ et al (2011) Stress 14:634-43.

Funded by: BBSRC, BSN (PJB). University of Edinburgh Principal’s Career Development PhD Scholarship (SY)

* entered into the PhD student poster competition