hpa and fetus in animals

Childhood psychopathology is a well-established predictor of poor adult life-course outcomes including lower rates of educational attainment and reduced family income, with a total economic loss of $2.1 trillion in the United States.1 Given this high level of individual and societal burden, much effort has been devoted to identifying the modifiable risk factors that confer risk for psychiatric disorders during early childhood. Indeed, numerous aspects of early life adversity, such as socioeconomic disadvantage, stressful/traumatic life events, and disrupted parent-child relationships, demonstrate strong associations with socioemotional problems and psychiatric disorders into adolescence...

Clinical and animal studies suggest that paternal exposure to adverse environments (bad living habits and chronic stress, etc.) has profound impacts on offspring development; however, the mechanism of paternal disease has not been clarified. In this study, a meta-analysis was first performed to suggest that paternal exposure to nicotine, ethanol, or caffeine is a high-risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Next, we created a rat model of paternal nicotine/ethanol/caffeine mixed exposure (PME), whereby male Wistar rats were exposed to nicotine (0...

Even though studies have shown that prenatal maternal stress is associated with increased reactivity of the HPA axis, the association between prenatal maternal stress and fetal glucocorticoid exposure is complex and most likely dependent on unidentified and poorly understood variables including nature and timing of prenatal insults. The precise mechanisms in which prenatal maternal stress influence neuroendocrine signaling between the maternal-placental-fetal interface are still unclear. The aim of this review article is to bring comprehensive basic concepts about prenatal maternal stress and mechanisms of transmission of maternal stress to the fetus...

BACKGROUND: Antenatal corticosteroid therapy is a standard of care for women at imminent risk of preterm labor. However, the optimal (maximum benefit and minimal risk of side effects) antenatal corticosteroid dosing strategy remains unclear. Although conveying overall benefit when given to the right patient at the right time, antenatal corticosteroid treatment efficacy is highly variable and is not risk-free. Building on earlier findings, we hypothesized that when administered in combination with slow-release betamethasone acetate, betamethasone phosphate and the high maternal-fetal betamethasone concentrations it generates are redundant for fetal lung maturation...

Fetal brain is extremely plastic and vulnerable to environmental influences that may have long-term impact on health and development of the offspring. Both the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid (HPT) axes are involved in stress responses, whereas, their final effectors, the Glucocorticoids (GCs) and the Thyroid Hormones (TH s), mediate several fundamental processes involved in neurodevelopment. The effects of these hormones on brain development are found to be time and dose-dependent...

Ambient temperatures that result in body temperatures beyond those of the thermo-neutral zone for dairy cattle can lead to reduced reproductive efficiencies that have negative effects on economic and productive efficiencies of dairy farms. In addition, in pregnant cows, ambient temperature-induced heat stress leads to modifications in the epigenome of the developing embryo, which, in turn, could lead to phenotypic variations in the sexually mature animal and its offspring. In the mammalian response to stress, adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulates the synthesis and secretion of glucocorticoids, which may have detrimental effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and the female estrous cycle...

In this paper, we propose the reproductive stress hypothesis that describes the pregnant females response to reproductive events based upon the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic adrenomedullary system. The main components of the reproductive stress hypothesis can be summarized as follows: 1) events unique to reproduction including empathema, pregnancy, parturition, and lactation cause non-specific responses in females, called active reproductive stress; 2) the fetus is a special stressor for pregnant females where endocrine hormones, including corticotropin-releasing hormones and fetal glucocorticoids secreted by the fetus and placenta, enter the maternal circulatory system, leading to another stress response referred to as passive reproductive stress; and 3) response to uterine tension and intrauterine infection is the third type of stress, called fetal intrauterine stress...

BACKGROUND: Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic gene regulatory mechanism; disruption of this process during early embryonic development can have major consequences on both fetal and placental development. The periconceptional period and intrauterine life are crucial for determining long-term susceptibility to diseases. Treatments and procedures in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and adverse in-utero environments may modify the methylation levels of genomic imprinting regions, including insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2)/H19, mesoderm-specific transcript (MEST), and paternally expressed gene 10 (PEG10), affecting the development of the fetus...

It has been approximately 30 years since the seminal discoveries of David Barker and his colleagues, and research is beginning to unravel the mechanisms that underlie developmental programing. The early environment of the embryo, fetus and newborn have been clearly linked to altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function and related behaviours through the juvenile period and into adulthood. A number of recent studies have shown that these effects can pass across multiple generations. The HPA axis is highly responsive to the environment, impacts both central and peripheral systems, and is critical to health in a wide variety of contexts...

Prenatal maternal depression has its direct effects on early brain development deficits with permanent changes in neuroendocrine functions and impaired behavior in offsprings. Prenatal stress (PS) transmits its affect on developing fetus and on pregnancy outcomes in adult offsprings. This results in impaired neurodevelopment, delayed cognitive and motor development with impaired behavior towards stressful conditions. There are sufficient evidences in animal models suggesting depression responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its hormonal response via cortisol, responsible for its critical effects in both the mother and offspring...

Recent studies have suggested a close association between prenatal maternal distress and allergic diseases in the offspring. We selected relevant birth-cohort or national registry studies using a keyword search of the PubMed database and summarized current evidence on the impact of prenatal maternal distress on the development of offspring's allergic diseases. Moreover, we postulated possible pathways linking prenatal distress and allergic diseases based on relevant human and animal studies. Both dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and increased oxidative stress may cause structural (altered brain/lung development) and functional (skewed immune development) changes, which may predispose the fetus to developing allergic diseases during childhood...

The embryo and fetus are highly responsive to the gestational environment. Glucocorticoids (GC) represent an important class of developmental cues and are crucial for normal brain development. Levels of GC in the fetal circulation are tightly regulated. They are maintained at low levels during pregnancy, and increase rapidly at the end of gestation. This surge in GC is critical for maturation of the organs, specifically the lungs, brain and kidney. There are extensive changes in brain epigenetic profiles that accompany the GC surge, suggesting that GC may drive regulation of gene transcription through altered epigenetic pathways...

Adverse intrauterine environments increase vulnerability to chronic diseases across the lifespan. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which integrates multiple neuronal signals and ultimately controls the response to stressors, may provide a final common pathway linking early adversity and adult diseases. Both prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and prenatal stress (PS) induce a hyperresponsive HPA phenotype in adulthood. As glucocorticoids are pivotal for the normal development of many fetal tissues including the brain, we used animal models of PAE and PS to investigate possible mechanisms underlying fetal programing of glucocorticoid signaling in the placenta and fetal brain at gestation day (GD) 21...

BACKGROUND: Retrospective studies suggest that maternal exposure to a severe stressor during pregnancy increases the fetus' risk for a variety of disorders in adulthood. Animal studies testing the fetal programming hypothesis find that maternal glucocorticoids pass through the placenta and alter fetal brain development, particularly the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. However, there are no prospective studies of pregnant women exposed to a sudden-onset independent stressor that elucidate the biopsychosocial mechanisms responsible for the wide variety of consequences of prenatal stress seen in human offspring...

Stress in pregnant rats caused by chronic immobilization alters the pattern of secretion of corticosterone and modifies the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) of the fetus. Early postnatal handling, however, may reverse the effects of increased secretion of corticosterone. We investigated the effects of prenatal stress and postnatal handling on the activity of the HPA axis of male offspring of stressed female rats. Male 90-day-old rats from four groups were investigated: prenatally stressed animals without postnatal handling, prenatally stressed animals with postnatal handling, unstressed control animals with postnatal handling, and unstressed control animals without postnatal handling...

Pregnancy diagnostics in equine reproduction are routinely performed using transrectal ultrasonography, although it is also possible to visualize the fetus by transabdominal ultrasound examinations from the 90th day of gestation onward. We hypothesized that ultrasound examinations may stress the mare and that the gestational stage status and lactation may influence the mare's stress reaction. To investigate the stress reaction, 25 thoroughbred mares of different age, pregnancy and lactational status underwent a transrectal examination...

Artificial activation is an important step for successful somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). In order to clone animals, diverse methods of activation have been studied to increase the developmental efficiency of cloned embryos. Here, we investigated the pronucleus formation and in vivo development of canine cloned embryos produced by different durations of 1.9mM 6-dimethylaminopurine (DMAP) treatment. For canine SCNT, in vivo-matured oocytes were enucleated, microinjected into the perivitelline space with donor cells, and fused by electrical stimulation...

Many prospective studies have shown that if a mother is depressed, anxious or stressed while pregnant, this increases the risk for her child having a wide range of adverse outcomes including emotional problems, symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or impaired cognitive development. Although genetics and postnatal care clearly affect these outcomes, evidence for a prenatal causal component also is substantial. Prenatal anxiety/depression may contribute 10-15 % of the attributable load for emotional/behavioural outcomes...

Maternal-fetal signaling is critical for optimal fetal development and postnatal outcomes. Chronic ethanol exposure alters programming of the fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, resulting in a myriad of neurochemical and behavioral alterations in postnatal life. Based on a recent study which showed that human intra-partum fetal stress increased fetal secretion of corticosterone, the non-dominant glucocorticoid, this investigation tested the hypothesis that an established model of HPA axis programming, chronic maternal ethanol administration to the pregnant guinea pig, would result in preferential elevation of corticosterone, which is also the non-dominant glucocorticoid...

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that events during prenatal life can have long-lasting effects on development and adult health. Stress during pregnancy is common and has been linked to increased incidence of a range of affective and behavioral outcomes in the offspring in later life and also some somatic outcomes. Glucocorticoids, and their actions on the fetus, which are regulated by placental 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2), are hypothesized to mediate these effects. Animal studies have demonstrated long-term effects of stress and glucocorticoid administration on behavioral outcomes, as well as increased blood pressure, altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) function, and decreased glucose tolerance and brain size...