Epigenetic modulation of the developing serotonergic neurotransmission in the semi-precocial rodent Octodon degus

Environmental influences during early life periods, particularly those provided by the mother or parents, are generally considered to have a strong impact on the development of brain and behaviour of the offspring. In the semi-precocial South American species Octodon degus, a rodent becoming increasingly popular in different laboratory research fields, the present study aimed to examine the consequences of the disturbance of the parent–offspring interaction induced by parental separation on the serotonergic neurotransmission. Based on a quantitative neurochemical approach using brain homogenates obtained from cortical regions and the hippocampus our results revealed that (i) the tissue levels of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid showed in both sexes a moderate, around two-fold increase until adulthood, indicating relatively matured cortical and hippocampal serotonergic systems at birth. In addition, we found an age-, region- and sex-specific pattern of changes in the serotonergic system induced by (ii) an acute stress challenge early in life (1-h parental separation at the postnatal day 3, 8, 14 or 21) with the most pronounced effects at earlier ages (between postnatal days 3 and 14) in the female cortex and (iii) repeated stress exposure (1 h daily) during the first 3 weeks of life affecting cortical regions of both sexes. Taken together, these data indicate that early life stress (i.e. parental separation) influences the developing serotonergic system in the semi-precocial O. degus, even if the brain is relatively well matured at the early stages of postnatal development.