Torkaman-Boutorabi A, Seifi F, Akbarabadi A, Toolee H, Sadat-Shirazi M, Vousooghi N et al . Morphine Exposure and Enhanced Depression-like Behaviour Confronting Chronic Stress in Adult Male Offspring Rat. BCN 2019; 10 (4) :323-332
URL:
http://bcn.iums.ac.ir/article-1-1021-en.html
1- Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.; Research Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2- Department of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran.; Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
4- Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
5- Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ; Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
6- Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.; Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
Introduction: Opioid addiction is an important concern in the World. Reports demonstrate that substance use disorder could influence genetic and environmental factors, and children of addicts have a higher rate of psychopathology. In this study, we investigated depression-like behavior among offspring of morphine-exposed rat parents.
Methods: Adult male and female Wistar rats received morphine for 21 consecutive days and then let them were free of drugs for ten days. Offspring of these rats were divided into three distinct groups: maternal morphine-exposed, paternal morphine-exposed, and both maternal and paternal morphine-exposed. We used sucrose preference and Forced Swim Test (FST) to measure depression-like behavior. Also, we induced chronic mild stress using repeated corticosterone injection and evaluated depression-like behavior in offspring of morphine-exposed parents compared with offspring of healthy ones.
Results: Results indicated that depression-like behaviors in the offspring of morphine-exposed rats were higher than those in the offspring of the control group in confronting with chronic mild stress. Additionally, mild chronic stress can produce an exaggerated effect on depression-like behavior in offspring of the morphine-exposed parent(s) compared with those of the control group.
Conclusion: Our data support the previous hypothesis that the depression rate is higher in the children of addicts. We verified that even when mother or father was clean of opioid in the time of gestation, their children would be susceptible to depression. Dysregulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and changing in neuronal features in the hippocampus increased depression-like behavior in the offspring of morphine-exposure parents.
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Highlights
• Depression in the offspring of morphine-exposed rats is higher than the offspring of the control group.
• Chronic stress produces an exaggerated effect on depression in offspring of morphine-exposed rats.
• Depression rate is higher in the children of addicts.
Plain Language Summary
Addiction is a multifactorial disorder with genetic, neurobiological, and psychosocial aspects. Epigenetic changes are explained as an alteration in gene expression without altering in DNA sequences. Factors such as stress and substance abuse can cause epigenetic changes and produce psychiatric behaviors. Based on some evidence, 50% of hospitalized children for the psychiatric disorder had addicted parents. Alcohol-abusing parents increase the risk of mental health problems such as depression, suicidal attempts, antisocial behavior, and drug abuse in children. In this study, we investigated the effect of parental (maternal and or paternal) morphine exposure 10 days before gestation on the depression state of the offspring. We also evaluated chronic mild stress-induced depression in offspring by using chronic corticosterone injection as a model of mild chronic stress. We found that parental morphine exposure induced depression in offspring. Morphine can directly affect epigenetic germ cells, and this causes developmental changes in the embryo. The mechanisms which induce such trans-generational effect are unknown, and other research should be done to show the mechanisms of such effects.
Type of Study:
Original |
Subject:
Behavioral Neuroscience Received: 2017/09/8 | Accepted: 2018/03/3 | Published: 2019/07/1