Chronic parental stress impacts offspring functioning throughout life. Chronic variable stress prior to conception impairs offspring development in terms of behavior, neuroanatomy, and neurobiology. Previously, our lab demonstrated that even a consistent stressor experienced by the sire or the dam shapes offspring development beginning in early life. Here, we show how consistent maternal stress prior to conception influences the brain and behavior of offspring in adolescence and adulthood. Female Long-Evans rats were exposed to elevated platform stress twice daily for 27 consecutive days immediately prior to mating with non-stressed males. Male and female offspring were assessed in the open field and elevated plus maze in adolescence, and open field, elevated plus maze, Whishaw tray reaching, and Morris water task in adulthood. Offspring were then euthanized, and their brains were stained with Golgi-Cox solution and then examined for dendritic spine density and hippocampal volume. Major findings include deficits in spatial memory, decreased medial prefrontal cortex spine density, and reduced right dorsal hippocampal volume in male offspring only. This work illustrates that the effects of consistent maternal stress prior to conception are lifelong and highly sexually dimorphic.

长期的父母压力会影响后代一生的功能。受孕前的慢性可变压力会损害后代在行为、神经解剖学和神经生物学方面的发育。此前，我们的实验室证明，即使是父系或母系所经历的持续压力源也会影响后代在生命早期的发育。在这里，我们展示了受孕前持续的母体压力如何影响青春期和成年期后代的大脑和行为。雌性 Long-Evans 大鼠在与无压力的雄性交配之前，每天两次连续 27 天暴露于升高的平台压力下。雄性和雌性后代在青春期在露天和高架十字迷宫中进行评估，在成年期在开阔地、高架十字迷宫、Whishaw 托盘伸手和莫里斯水任务中进行评估。树突棘密度和海马体积。主要发现包括空间记忆缺陷、内侧前额叶皮质脊柱密度降低以及仅雄性后代右侧海马背侧体积减少。这项工作表明，受孕前持续的母体压力的影响是终生的，并且具有高度的性二态性。