D-063 | Stress Resilience: Differences in Movement Strategies Between Resilient and Susceptible Mice During the Forced Swimming Test

Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Micaela Salvochea | Email: micaela.salvochea@gmail.com

Micaela Salvochea^1°, Jennifer Miranda^1°, Erika Georgieff^2°,  Mariela Chertoff^1°2°

^1° Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica, Laboratorio de Neuroepigenética y Adversidades Tempranas. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
^2° CONICET- Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. (IQUIBICEN). Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Gestational stress affects the trajectory of brain development, resulting in the modification of cognitive and socioemotional functions. However, not all individuals respond to stress in the same way. In order to analyze the mechanisms of stress resilience, we used a gestational restriction stress model in which pregnant adult CF1 females were subjected to movement restriction (MR) 3 times a day for 45 minutes from GD10 to GD19. Latency to groom in the Splash Test was used to differentiate between resilient and susceptible mice after RM at PD28, in which susceptible animals were separated as those with a mean of latency to groom after RM greater than control group + 1SD. Mice behavior was analyzed in the forced swimming test. Differences in the movement strategies were observed between the groups in the last 4 min of the test, with the susceptible group showing significantly more active swimming and less passive swimming compared to the control group, whereas no significant differences were found between the resilient and control group. RNA was extracted from the prefrontal cortex of all animals to evaluate potential molecular mechanisms of stress adaptation.