The effects of prenatal stress and maternal age on developmental indices and sexual differentiation in male and female rats were investigated. Pregnant females exposed to the stress of restraint and high intensity illumination during Days 14-21 of gestation produced fewer live pups and exhibited shorter gestation lengths than nonstressed control females. Male offspring of stressed mothers had lower body weights, lighter testes and delayed testes descent as compared to the male offspring of nonstressed mothers. These effects were greatest in male offspring of younger stressed mothers. Copulatory behaviors were also impaired in prenatally stressed males. Prenatally stressed males exhibited fewer mounts and ejaculations and longer latencies to intromission and ejaculation than nonstressed males. Prenatally stressed female offspring had shortened anogenital distance, delayed eye opening and lower body weights than nonstressed females. The effect of stress on eye opening and body weight was greatest in the offspring of younger mothers. Anogenital distance, however, was altered more in offspring of older stressed mothers. Regardless of the age of the mother, prenatally stressed offspring exhibited irregularities in estrus cycling and alterations in proceptive behaviors. Females injected on Day 3 with 3.5 (mu)g Testosterone Propionate (TP) had earlier vaginal opening, increased incidence of cystic ovaries and became anovulatory at an earlier age than oil-injected females. More TP-injected females of stressed mothers had cystic ovaries and were sterile at an earlier age than any other group. TP-injected females exhibited reduced levels of proceptive behavior which suggests similar effects of prenatal stress and neonatal androgenization / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_23753 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Contributors | Burack, Gail Denise (Author) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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