Effects of Psychological or Physical Prenatal Stress on Attention and Locomotion in Juvenile Rats

Prenatal stress has been shown to affect the cognition of offspring, including memory and learning abilities. In the current study, the long-term effects of chronic prenatal exposure to the physical or psychological stress on locomotion and attention were evaluated by using open field test (OFT) and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex (ASR). In addition, the level of corticosterone was measured after the ASR trial. Male and female rodents that underwent prenatal physical and psychological stress had an augmented velocity in OFT, and only male animals showed an increased ASR. Neither male nor female offsprings had an alteration in the level of corticosterone and PPI values regardless of the stress type. Our results revealed that exposure to stress during the development of fetus increases ASR in a sex-dependent manner. This finding might implicate the effect of prenatal stress on attention in male offspring regardless of the stress type.