Prenatal stress elicits regionally selective changes in basal FGF-2 gene expression in adulthood and alters the adult response to acute or chronic stress

Given the multifaceted role of FGF-2 in synaptic development, maintenance and plasticity, these data provide detailed mechanistic evidence as to how prenatal stress elicits lifelong effects on synaptic function. The abnormal modulation of FGF-2 gene expression in specific brain regions in response to subsequent stress in adulthood may impair the normal adaptive responses of the cell to challenging situations.