Perinatal fluoxetine exposure changes social and stress-coping behavior in adult rats housed in a seminatural environment.

Perinatal fluoxetine exposure changes social and stress-coping behavior in adult rats housed in a seminatural environment. Neuropharmacology. 2019 Apr 05;: Authors: Houwing DJ, Heijkoop R, Olivier JDA, Snoeren EMS Abstract The use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) during pregnancy has increased tremendously, but the consequences for the offspring remain largely unclear. Several studies have described potential effects of perinatal SSRI-exposure on neurobehavioral outcomes using simplified rodent test set-ups, however these set-ups only assess a small fraction of the behavior. For translational purposes it is important to take the environmental influences into account which children are exposed to in real life. By using a seminatural environmental set-up, this study is the first to assess behavioral outcomes in offspring exposed to perinatal SSRI exposure under seminatural circumstances. Mothers received daily the SSRI fluoxetine (FLX, 10 mg/kg p.o.) or vehicle (CTR) from gestational day 1 until postnatal day 21. To assess the effect of FLX exposure during early development, female and male offspring were behaviorally tested in the seminatural environment at adulthood. Baseline behavior was measured in addition to responses during and after stressful white-noise events. Behavior was observed on two days, day 4 on which females were sexually non-receptive, and day 7, on which females were sexual receptive. Perinatal F...
Source: Neuropharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Neuropharmacology Source Type: research