Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Jazmín Grillo Balboa | email: jazmin.grillo28@gmail.com
Jazmín Grillo Balboa 1°, Ailén Alba Colapietro 1°, Verónica Cantarelli 2°, Marina Ponzio 2°, Marta Cristina Antonelli 1°, María Eugenia Pallarés 1°
1° Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencias Prof. E. De Robertis, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires
2° Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Early-life stress is a well-established risk factor for the development of affective disorders later in life. Although the mechanisms underlying this vulnerability are not fully elucidated, they have been linked to dysregulations in the Stress System and the cortico-limbic structures that modulate its activity. Among them, the amygdala (Amy) plays a critical role in the emotional processing of threat. During early life the Amy is extremely plastic, rendering it vulnerable to environmental factors that could lead to atypical shaping of behavior in the long term. Among the models that induce infant maltreatment in rats, the “Scarcity-adversity model” (SAM) -by which the nesting resources provided to a lactating dam are limited? is particularly interesting, as it is the mother who induces stress in her pups. The SAM is applied from postnatal day 8 to 12, a critical moment in the maturation of the Amy. We hypothesize that SAM will stress the dams, modifying their behavior towards pups. This will, in turn, modify the structure and functioning of the Amy in their pups, leading to variations in the way the offspring responds to threat, and enhancing their vulnerability to develop behavioral alterations. Our preliminary data shows that SAM dams display greater anxiety-like traits than control mothers, evidenced by a lower frequency of entry to the open arms of the Elevated Plus Maze. This result shed some light on the maternal mechanisms underlying infant maltreatment induced by SAM.