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Early Life Stress and Post-Weaning High Fat Diet Alter Tyrosine Hydroxylase Regulation and AT1 Receptor Expression in the Adrenal Gland in a Sex Dependent Manner

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Abstract

Previous studies have shown that early life stress induced by maternal separation or non-handling can lead to behavioural deficits in rats and that these deficits can be alleviated by providing palatable cafeteria high-fat diet (HFD). In these studies we investigated the effects of maternal separation or non-handling and HFD on tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein and TH phosphorylation at Ser40 (pSer40TH) and the expression of angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1R) protein in the adrenal gland as markers of sympatho-adrenomedullary activation. After littering, Sprague–Dawley rats were assigned to short maternal separation, S15 (15 min), prolonged maternal separation, S180 (180 min) daily from postnatal days 2–14 or were non-handled (NH) until weaning. Siblings were exposed to HFD or chow from day 21 until 19 weeks when adrenals were harvested. Maternal separation and non-handling had no effects on adrenal TH protein in both sexes. We found an effect of HFD only in the females; HFD significantly increased TH levels in NH rats and pSer40TH in S180 rats (relative to corresponding chow-fed groups), but had no effect on AT1R expression in any group. In contrast, in male rats HFD had no effect on TH protein levels, but significantly increased pSer40TH across all treatment groups. There was no effect of HFD on AT1R expression in male rats; however, maternal separation (for 15 or 180 min) caused significant increases in AT1R expression (relative to NH group regardless of diet). This is the first study to report that early life stress and diet modulate TH protein, pSer40TH and AT1R protein levels in the adrenal gland in a sex dependent manner. These results are interpreted in respect to the potential adverse effects that these changes in the adrenal gland may have in males and females in adult life.

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Abbreviations

HPA:

Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal

HFD:

High fat diet

TH:

Tyrosine hydroxylase

AT1R:

Angiotensin II receptor type 1

Ser:

Serine residue

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Discovery Grant of the Australian Research Council, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle.

Conflict of interest

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia

    Larisa Bobrovskaya

  2. Faculty of Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Jayanthi Maniam & Margaret J. Morris

  3. School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Lin Kooi Ong & Peter R. Dunkley

Authors
  1. Larisa Bobrovskaya
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  2. Jayanthi Maniam
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  3. Lin Kooi Ong
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  4. Peter R. Dunkley
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  5. Margaret J. Morris
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Larisa Bobrovskaya.

Additional information

Larisa Bobrovskaya, Jayanthi Maniam contributed equally to this work.

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Bobrovskaya, L., Maniam, J., Ong, L.K. et al. Early Life Stress and Post-Weaning High Fat Diet Alter Tyrosine Hydroxylase Regulation and AT1 Receptor Expression in the Adrenal Gland in a Sex Dependent Manner. Neurochem Res 38, 826–833 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-013-0985-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-013-0985-4

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