Selective effects of neonatal handling on rat brain N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors

Neonatal handling, an experimental model of early life experiences, is known to affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function thus increasing adaptability, coping with stress, cognitive abilities and in general brain plasticity-related processes. A molecule that plays a most critical role in such processes is the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, a tetramer consisting of two obligatory, channel forming NR1 subunits and two regulatory subunits, usually a combination of NR2A and NR2B. Since the subunit composition of the NMDA receptor affects brain plasticity, in the present study we investigated the effect of neonatal handling on NR1, NR2A and NR2B mRNA levels using in situ hybridization, and on NR2B binding sites, using autoradiography of in vitro binding of [3H]-ifenprodil, in adult rat limbic brain areas. We found that neonatal handling specifically increased NR2B mRNA and binding sites, while it had no effect on the NR1 and NR2A subunits. More specifically, neonatally handled animals, both males and females, had higher NR2B mRNA and binding sites in the dorsal CA1 hippocampal area, as well as the prelimbic, the anterior cingulate and the somatosensory cortex, compared to the non-handled. Moreover NR2B binding sites were increased in the dorsal CA3 area of handled animals of both sexes. Furthermore, neonatal handling had a sexually dimorphic effect, increasing NR2B mRNA and binding sites in the central and medial amygdaloid nuclei only of the females. The neonatal handling-induced increase in the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor could underlie the higher brain plasticity, which neonatally handled animals exhibit.