Permanent Alterations in Stress Responsivity in Female Offspring Subjected to Combined Maternal Lead Exposure and/or Stress

VIRGOLINI, M.B.; BAUTER, M.R.; WESTON, D.D.; CORY-SLECHTA, D.A

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2006 vol. 27 p. 11 - 11

Elevated lead (Pb) exposures preferentially impact low socioeconomic status (SES) populations, the same groups thought to sustain the highest levels of environmental stress. As co-occurring risk factors, therefore, Pb and stress could interact, a possibility further supported bythe fact that both act on mesocorticolimbic dopamine systems of the brain. We recently demonstrated in rats that maternal Pb exposure could permanently increase basal corticosterone levels of offspring consistent with altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis function. Thecurrent study was thus designed to test the hypothesis that stress responsivity of offspring should likewise be altered, with the outcome differing in response to Pb, stress or Pb + stress. The impact of intermittent variable stress challenges (restraint, novelty, cold) on behaviorsensitive to Pb exposure (fixed interval (FI) schedule-controlled responding) and on stress-induced corticosterone changes were evalua