Faculty Research and Publications

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Browsing Faculty Research and Publications by Subject "Ancestral stress"

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    Environmental intervention as a therapy for adverse programming by ancestral stress
    (Nature Research, 2016) McCreary, J. Keiko; Erickson, Zachary T.; Hao, XongXin; Ilnytskyy, Yaroslav; Kovalchuk, Igor; Metz, Gerlinde A. S.
    Ancestral stress can program stress sensitivity and health trajectories across multiple generations. While ancestral stress is uncontrollable to the filial generations, it is critical to identify therapies that overcome transgenerational programming. Here we report that prenatal stress in rats generates a transgenerationally heritable endocrine and epigenetic footprint and elevated stress sensitivity which can be alleviated by beneficial experiences in later life. Ancestral stress led to downregulated glucocorticoid receptor and prefrontal cortex neuronal densities along with precocious development of anxiety-like behaviours. Environmental enrichment (EE) during adolescence mitigated endocrine and neuronal markers of stress and improved miR-182 expression linked to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) regulation in stressed lineages. Thus, EE may serve as a powerful intervention for adverse transgenerational programming through microRNA-mediated regulation of BDNF and NT-3 pathways. The identification of microRNAs that mediate the actions of EE highlights new therapeutic strategies for mental health conditions and psychiatric disease.
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    Evidence for ancestral programming of resilience in a two-hit stress model
    (Frontiers Media, 2017) Faraji, Jamshid; Soltanpour, Nabiollah; Ambeskovic, Mirela; Zucchi, Fabiola C. R.; Beaumier, Pierre; Kovalchuk, Igor; Metz, Gerlinde A. S.
    In a continuously stressful environment, the effects of recurrent prenatal stress (PS) may accumulate across generations and alter stress vulnerability and resilience. Here, we report in female rats that a family history of recurrent ancestral PS facilitates certain aspects of movement performance, and that these benefits are abolished by the experience of a second hit, induced by a silent ischemia during adulthood. Female F4-generation rats with and without a family history of cumulative multigenerational PS (MPS) were tested for skilled motor function before and after the induction of a minor ischemic insult by endothelin-1 infusion into the primary motor cortex. MPS resulted in improved skilled motor abilities and blunted hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function compared to non-stressed rats. Deep sequencing revealed downregulation of miR-708 in MPS rats along with upregulation of its predicted target genes Mapk10 and Rasd2. Through miR-708 stress may regulate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activity. Hair trace elemental analysis revealed an increased Na/K ratio, which suggests a chronic shift in adrenal gland function. The ischemic lesion activated the HPA axis in MPS rats only; the lesion, however, abolished the advantage of MPS in skilled reaching. The findings indicate that MPS generates adaptive flexibility in movement, which is challenged by a second stressor, such as a neuropathological condition. Thus, a second “hit” by a stressor may limit behavioral flexibility and neural plasticity associated with ancestral stress.