The Influence of Perinatal Stress and Antidepressants on Different Types of Adaptive Behavior and Cognitive Abilities of Prepubertal Female Rats

We investigated the influence of repeated peripheral inflammatory nociceptive stimulation of neonate female rats born to mothers exposed during pregnancy to chronic stress and the effect of an antidepressant drug fluoxetine, a selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor, and an anxiolytic drug buspirone, a 5-HT1A receptor agonist, on adaptive behavior and cognitive abilities of the offspring during the prepubertal period. The data on the effect of maternal stress exposure during the critical perinatal period of individual development on adaptive behavior and spatial learning abilities of the offspring provide support for the hypothesis on the possible beneficial effect of moderate stressful events experienced at an early age on stress tolerance in subsequent ontogenesis. The corrective effect of the above drugs on adaptive behavior and cognitive abilities of the prenatally stressed prepubertal female offspring exposed to repeated peripheral inflammatory pain at the neonatal stage is characterized.