Publication
Postnatal impoverished housing impairs adolescent risk-assessment and increases risk-taking: A sex-specific effect associated with histone epigenetic regulation of Crfr1 in the medial prefrontal corte
Publisher:
Elsevier BV
Date:
2019
DOI:
10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2018.08.032
Abstract: While increasing evidence posits poor decision-making as a central feature of mental disorders, very few studies investigated the effects of early-life stress (ELS) on specific components of reward-related choice behaviors. Risk-taking (RT) involves the exposure to some danger, or negative consequences, in order to achieve a goal-directed behavior. Such behaviors are likely to be preceded by risk-assessment (RA), which is a dynamic cognitive process involving the acquisition of information in potentially dangerous situations. Here, we investigated the effects of being raised in impoverished housing conditions during early life (P2-P9) on RT, RA and dopaminergic and corticotrophinergic gene expression of adolescent male and female mice. Phenotypes were assessed by two protocols: the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and the predator-odor risk-taking (PORT). We found decreased RA in mice exposed to impoverished housing in the absence of a reward (EPM), with a more pronounced effect among females. Moreover, when exposed to a predatory olfactory cue, increased RT was observed in these females in a reward-related task (PORT), as well as decreased HPA axis responsivity. This sex-specific behavioral effect was associated with increased Crfr1 mRNA expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and higher levels of the histone mark H3R2