S-100 | Role of 5-HT7 receptor in early-life stress influence of adult emotional behavior in mice

Neural Circuits and Systems Neuroscience
Author: Melina Maidana | Email: melinamaidana03@gmail.com

Melina Maidana^1°2°3°, Grace Wu^1°2°3°, Carla Argañaraz^1°2°3°,  Rocío Foltran^1°2°3°, Tamara Adjimann^1°2°3°, Mariano Soiza-Reilly

^1° Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias
^2° Fac. de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires
^3° CONICET

Early-life stress of repeated maternal separation (MS) during postnatal days 2 to 14 (P2-14) in mice produces anxiety and depressive-like symptoms in adulthood. Emotional alterations are accompanied by hyper-connectivity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) synaptic circuit (PFC-DRN), a cortico-limbic pathway involved in stress responses and mood control. Activation of 5-HT7 receptors has been shown to mediate such alterations on the PFC-DRN synaptic circuit, however the impact of this receptor function on adult emotional responses observed after MS remains unknown. Here we exposed mice to MS during P2-14 while administering a selective 5-HT7 receptor antagonist (SB-269970, s.c. 20mg/kg/day). We tested in adulthood anxiety and depressive-like behaviors in maternally-separated SB-269970-treated mice and saline controls. Our results indicate a crucial role of 5-HT7 receptors in the early stress vulnerability of prefrontal circuits and its adult behavioral consequences.