Background: Rats exposed to chronic predator scent stress mimic the phenotype of complex
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in humans, including altered adrenal morphology and function.
High- and low-anxiety phenotypes have been described in rats exposed to predator scent stress
(PSS). This study aimed to determine whether these high- and low-anxiety phenotypes correlate with
changes in adrenal histomorphology and corticosteroid production. Methods: Rats were exposed
to PSS for ten days. Thirty days later, the rats’ anxiety index (AI) was assessed with an elevated
plus-maze test. Based on differences in AI, the rats were segregated into low- (AI ≤ 0.8, n = 9)
and high- (AI > 0.8, n = 10) anxiety phenotypes. Plasma corticosterone (CORT) concentrations
were measured by ELISA. Adrenal CORT, desoxyCORT, and 11-dehydroCORT were measured
by high-performance liquid chromatography. After staining with hematoxylin and eosin, adrenal
histomorphometric changes were evaluated by measuring the thickness of the functional zones of the
adrenal cortex. Results: Decreased plasma CORT concentrations, as well as decreased adrenal CORT,
desoxyCORT and 11-dehydroCORT concentrations, were observed in high- but not in low-anxietyphenotypes. These decreases were associated with increases in AI. PSS led to a significant decrease in
the thickness of the zona fasciculata and an increase in the thickness of the zona intermedia. The increase
in the thickness of the zona intermedia was more pronounced in low-anxiety than in high-anxiety
rats. A decrease in the adrenal capsule thickness was observed only in low-anxiety rats. The nucleus
diameter of cells in the zona fasciculata of high-anxiety rats was significantly smaller than that of
control or low-anxiety rats. Conclusion: Phenotype-associated changes in adrenal function and
histomorphology were observed in a rat model of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:89167 |
| Date | 20 January 2024 |
| Creators | Tseilikman, Vadim, Komelkova, Maria, Kondashevskaya, Marina V., Manukhina, Eugenia, Downey, H. Fred, Chereshnev, Valerii, Chereshneva, Margarita, Platkovskii, Pavel, Goryacheva, Anna, Pashkov, Anton, Fedotova, Julia, Tseilikman, Olga, Maltseva, Natalya, Cherkasova, Olga, Steenblock, Charlotte, Bornstein, Stefan R., Ettrich, Barbara, Chrousos, George P., Ullmann, Enrico |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 13235 |
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