Alleviating Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Stress: A Chinese Medicine Approach in Neonatal Rats.

BACKGROUND: Premature infants are exposed to numerous stressors in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during a crucial period for brain development; this period exerts long-term influences on cognitive and behavioral development.

AIMS: To evaluate the effect of NICU-related stress on neonatal rat pups and explore the effect of Chinese medicine treatment (CMT).

METHODS: Sixty male rat pups were randomly assigned to three groups: the control group, the NICU group (NICU-related stress), and the CMT group (NICU-related stress plus CMT). All stressors and interventions were administered from 0 to 7 days after birth. Body weight, serum corticosterone levels, and behavior in the open field (OF) test, elevated plus maze (EPM) test, sucrose preference test, and Morris water maze (MWM) test were recorded, and blood samples were collected at five different time points (T0, T1, T2, T3, and T4).

RESULTS: The body weights of rats in the CMT and control groups were heavier than those in the NICU group in both early life and adulthood ( P < 0.05). Serum corticosterone levels significantly differed with time (except T0 vs. T1 and T3 vs. T4) but did not significantly differ among the three groups ( F = 0.441, P = 0.894). Regardless of age, spatial memory and anxiety-like and depression-like behavior did not differ among the three groups.

CONCLUSION: NICU-related stress exerted a long-term effect on rat growth and development but did not affect spatial memory, anxiety-like behavior, depression-like behavior, or serum corticosterone levels. CMT alleviated the impact of NICU-related stress on rats and promoted the growth and development of neonatal rats.