Prenatal Restraint Stress (PRS) in rats is a validated model of early stress resulting in permanent behavioral and neurobiological outcomes. Although sexual dimorphism in the effects of PRS has been hypothesized for more than 30 years, few studies in this long period have directly addressed the issue. Our group has uncovered a pronounced gender difference in the effects of PRS (stress delivered to the mothers 3 times per day during the last 10 days of pregnancy) on anxiety, spatial learning, and a series of neurobiological parameters classically associated with hippocampus-dependent behaviors. Adult male rats subjected to PRS (“PRS rats”) showed increased anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze (EPM), a reduction in the survival of newborn cells in the dentate gyrus, a reduction in the activity of mGlu1/5 metabotropic glutamate receptors in the ventral hippocampus, and an increase in the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and pro-BDNF in the hippocampus. In contrast, female PRS rats displayed reduced anxiety in the EPM, improved learning in the Morris water maze, an increase in the activity of mGlu1/5 receptors in the ventral and dorsal hippocampus, and no changes in hippocampal neurogenesis or BDNF levels. The direction of the changes in neurogenesis, BDNF levels and mGlu receptor function in PRS animals was not consistent with the behavioral changes, suggesting that PRS perturbs the interdependency of these particular parameters and their relation to hippocampus-dependent behavior. Our data suggest that the epigenetic changes in hippocampal neuroplasticity induced by early environmental challenges are critically sex-dependent and that the behavioral outcome may diverge in males and females.

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Complete sequencing of the prion protein open reading frame of a 68-year-old woman affected by a familial form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) revealed a new mutation at codon 210 resulting in the substitution of isoleucine for valine. Moreover, a new 24-bp deletion encompassing codons 54 to 61 or 62 to 69 was found in the other allele. Four of the 17 asymptomatic relatives tested carry the 210 mutation. Two of them were 81 and 82 years old. Four of 22 patients with CJD whose recorded familial history was negative for demented illnesses, but none of 103 healthy control subjects, tested positive for the 210 mutation. These data suggest that the 210 mutation is associated with CJD, but that environmental factors or incomplete penetrance may contribute to the development of the disease. This finding also suggests that in Italy, familial CJD is more common than previously reported.

In a view of the increased clinical interest in the presence of hormones in human milk, the objective of this study was to evaluate maternal plasma and milk cortisol levels in early puerperium and their relationship in breast-feeding in women who underwent elective cesarean section or who delivered vaginally. During the first 3 days of breast-feeding, plasma and milk cortisol levels declined significantly both in women who underwent elective cesarean section and in women who had spontaneous deliveries. Moreover, the breast-feeding procedure did not affect maternal plasma and milk hormonal levels, since no differences between the cortisol levels measured immediately before and after morning daily breast-feeding were detected. Furthermore, a very high positive correlation (p < 0.001) was found between plasma and milk cortisol concentrations. Therefore, maternal plasma cortisol levels can be considered a very reliable measure to predict the hormonal concentration in breast milk.