Maternal corticosterone effects on hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis regulation and behavior of the offspring in rodents

The behavioral and physiological traits of an individual are strongly influenced by early life events. One of the major systems implicated in the responses to environmental manipulations and stress is the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Glucocorticoid hormones (cortisol in humans and corticosterone in rodents) represent the final step in the activation of the HPA system and play an important role in the effects induced by the perinatal environment. We demonstrated, in rats with some differences between males and females, that mothers whose drinking water was supplemented with moderate doses of corticosterone throughout the lactation period, give birth to offspring better able to meet the demands of the environment. The progeny of these mothers, as adults, show improved learning capabilities, reduced fearfulness in anxiogenic situations, lower metabotropic glutamate receptors and higher glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampus with a persistent hyporeactivity of the HPA axis leading to a resistance to ischemic neuronal damage. Other studies performed in mice showed that low doses of corticosterone in the maternal drinking water, which, as in our rat model, may reflect a form of mild environmental stimulation, enhanced the offspring's ability to cope with different situations, while elevated doses, comparable to those elicited by strong stressors, caused developmental disruption. Significantly, adult rats and mice that had been nursed by mothers with a mild hypercorticosteronemia provide an example of how a moderate corticosterone increase mediates the salutary effects of some events occurring early in life. Both maternal and infantile plasma levels of the hormone may play a role in these effects, the first influencing maternal behavior, the second acting directly on the central nervous system of the developing rat.