Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Dynamic changes in microglia morphology and higher resilience to stress-induced anxious-behavior in a model of prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids

2019; Frontiers Media; Volume: 13; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3389/conf.fncel.2019.01.00043

1662-5102

Rita Gaspar, Carina Soares‐Cunha, Bárbara Coimbra, Ana Verónica Domingues, Filipa I. Baptista, Carlos Ribeiro, Nuno Sousa, António Francisco Ambrósio, Ana João Rodrigues, Catarina A. Gomes,

Immune Response and Inflammation

Event Abstract Back to Event Dynamic changes in microglia morphology and higher resilience to stress-induced anxious-behavior in a model of prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids Rita Gaspar1, 2*, Carina I. Soares-Cunha3, 4, Bárbara Coimbra3, 4, Ana Verónica Domingues3, 4, Filipa I. Baptista1, 2, Carlos A. Fontes-Ribeiro5*, Nuno Sousa3, 4, António F. Ambrósio1, 2, Ana João Rodrigues3, 4 and Catarina A. Gomes1, 2, 5 1 Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal 2 CNC.IBILI Consortium, University of Coimbra, Portugal 3 Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal 4 PT Associate Laboratory ICVS/3B’s, Portugal 5 Institute of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal Prenatal exposure to high levels of stress mediators, namely glucocorticoids (CG), is associated with psychiatric disorders later in life. In a model of in utero exposure to dexamethasone (iuDEX), a model that presents a stable anxious phenotype, we reported long-lasting sex differences in microglia morphology. However, the effect of stress in adulthood in both sexes and its relationship with microglia morphology is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the effect of stress in iuDEX animals of both sexes in terms of microglia morphology, anxious-like behavior and susceptibility to depression. Pregnant females (Wistar rats) were injected subcutaneously with dexamethasone. The offspring (post-natal day 90; males and females) were exposed during 2 weeks to a short-term chronic mild stress (CMS) protocol, and then anxious- and depressive-like behavior were assessed. In parallel, we quantified the number and length of cellular processes of microglia in the dorsal hippocampus (dHip) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), two brain regions involved in emotional-related disorders. Here, we show that iuDEX animals present changes in microglia morphology in dHip (hyper-ramification in females) and in NAc (atrophy in females and hyper-ramification in males). After chronic stress, these cells undergo sex-specific morphological remodeling. Interestingly, males and females exposed to iuDEX were more resistant to the behavioral effects induced by adult chronic mild stress. This study shows that exposure to prenatal GCs has an impact on microglia morphology and behavior, programing stress coping strategies in adulthood. In line with our previous results obtained in different brain regions, microglia sex-specific morphologic remodeling in the NAc parallels behavioral changes associated with developmental challenges, highlighting the need to further investigate the role of microglia in neuropsychiatric conditions. Acknowledgements Support: Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal FCT (PD/BD/114116/2015 and Strategic Project UID/NEU/04539/2013), COMPETE-FEDER (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007440), Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000008: BRAINHEALTH 2020). Keywords: glucocoricoids, neuropsychiatric disorders, Anxiety, Microglia, gender, Chronic mild stress Conference: XVI Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience (SPN2019), Lisboa, Portugal, 30 May - 1 Jun, 2019. Presentation Type: Pitch communication + Poster presentation Topic: Psychiatric Disorders / Addiction Citation: Gaspar R, Soares-Cunha CI, Coimbra B, Domingues A, Baptista FI, Fontes-Ribeiro CA, Sousa N, Ambrósio AF, Rodrigues A and Gomes CA (2019). Dynamic changes in microglia morphology and higher resilience to stress-induced anxious-behavior in a model of prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids. Front. Cell. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: XVI Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience (SPN2019). doi: 10.3389/conf.fncel.2019.01.00043 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 28 Feb 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Miss. Rita Gaspar, Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal, ritagaspar87@gmail.com Prof. Carlos A Fontes-Ribeiro, Institute of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal, fontes.ribeiro@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Rita Gaspar Carina I Soares-Cunha Bárbara Coimbra Ana Verónica Domingues Filipa I Baptista Carlos A Fontes-Ribeiro Nuno Sousa António F Ambrósio Ana João Rodrigues Catarina A Gomes Google Rita Gaspar Carina I Soares-Cunha Bárbara Coimbra Ana Verónica Domingues Filipa I Baptista Carlos A Fontes-Ribeiro Nuno Sousa António F Ambrósio Ana João Rodrigues Catarina A Gomes Google Scholar Rita Gaspar Carina I Soares-Cunha Bárbara Coimbra Ana Verónica Domingues Filipa I Baptista Carlos A Fontes-Ribeiro Nuno Sousa António F Ambrósio Ana João Rodrigues Catarina A Gomes PubMed Rita Gaspar Carina I Soares-Cunha Bárbara Coimbra Ana Verónica Domingues Filipa I Baptista Carlos A Fontes-Ribeiro Nuno Sousa António F Ambrósio Ana João Rodrigues Catarina A Gomes Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.