Adverse early life events are a well-established risk factor for the precipitation of behavioral disorders characterized by anomalies in the dopaminergic system, such as schizophrenia and addiction. The correlation between early life conditions and the dopaminergic system has been causally investigated in more than 90 rodent publications. Here, we tested the validity of the hypothesis that early life stress (ELS) alters dopamine signaling by performing an extensive 3-level mixed effect meta-analysis. We included several ELS models and biochemical indicators of the dopaminergic system in a variety of brain areas, for a total of 1009 comparisons. Contrary to our expectations, only a few comparisons displayed a significant effect. Specifically, the striatal area was the most vulnerable, displaying decreased dopamine precursor and increased metabolites after ELS. To make all data openly accessible, we created MaDEapp (https://osf.io/w25m4/), a tool to explore data of the meta-analysis with the intent to guide future (pre)clinical research and allow power calculations. All in all, ELS induces a few yet robust changes on biochemical indicators of the dopaminergic system.

不良的早期生活事件是导致多巴胺能系统异常（例如精神分裂症和成瘾）异常的行为障碍加剧的公认危险因素。超过90种啮齿动物出版物对因果关系研究了早期生活状况与多巴胺能系统之间的关系。在这里，我们测试了生活压力（ELS）通过执行广泛的3级混合效应荟萃分析来改变多巴胺信号传导的假说的有效性。我们纳入了多个大脑区域的几种多巴胺能系统的ELS模型和生化指标，总共进行了1009次比较。与我们的预期相反，只有很少的比较显示了显着的效果。具体来说，纹状体是最易受伤害的部位，在ELS后显示出减少的多巴胺前体和增加的代谢产物。为了使所有数据公开可用，我们创建了MaDEapp（https://osf.io/w25m4/），该工具可用于探索荟萃分析的数据，以指导未来的（临床前）临床研究并允许进行功效计算。总而言之，ELS在多巴胺能系统的生化指标上引起了一些强大的变化。