The present study investigated the long-lasting effects of prenatal repeated restraint stress on social behavior and anxiety, as well as its repercussions on oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (VP)-positive neurons of the paraventricular (PVN) and supraoptic (SON) nuclei from stressed pups in adulthood. Female Wistar rats were exposed to restraint stress in the last 7 days of pregnancy. At birth, pups were cross-fostered and assigned to the following groups: prenatally non-stressed offspring raised by prenatally non-stressed mothers (NS:NS), prenatally non-stressed offspring raised by prenatally stressed mothers (S:NS), prenatally stressed offspring raised by prenatally non-stressed mothers (NS:S), prenatally stressed offspring raised by prenatally stressed mothers (S:S). As adults, male prenatally stressed offspring raised both by stressed mothers (S:S group) and non-stressed ones (NS:S group) showed impaired social memory and interaction. In addition, when both adverse conditions coexisted (S:S group), increased anxiety-like behavior and aggressiveness was observed in association with a decrease in the number of OT-positive magnocellular neurons, VP-positive magnocellular and parvocellular neurons of the PVN. The NS:S group exhibited a reduction in the amount of VP-positive magnocellular neurons compared to the S:NS. Thus, the social behavior deficits observed in the S:S and NS:S groups may be only partially associated with these alterations to the peptidergic systems. No changes were shown in the OT and VP cellular composition of the SON nucleus. Nevertheless, it is clear that a special attention should be given to the gestational period, since stressful events during this time may be related to the emergence of behavioral impairments in adulthood.

There is an urgent need for advances in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma (EWS), an aggressive childhood tumor with possible neuroectodermal origin. Inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDAC) can revert aberrant epigenetic states and reduce growth in different experimental cancer types. Here, we investigated whether the potent HDAC inhibitor, sodium butyrate (NaB), has the ability to reprogram EWS cells towards a more differentiated state and affect their growth and survival. Exposure of two EWS cell lines to NaB resulted in rapid and potent inhibition of HDAC activity (1 h, IC 1.5 mM) and a significant arrest of cell cycle progression (72 h, IC 0.68-0.76 mM), marked by G0/G1 accumulation. Delayed cell proliferation and reduced colony formation ability were observed in EWS cells after long-term culture. NaB-induced effects included suppression of cell proliferation accompanied by reduced transcriptional expression of the EWS-FLI1 fusion oncogene, decreased expression of key survival and pluripotency-associated genes, and re-expression of the differentiation neuronal marker βIII-tubulin. Finally, NaB reduced c-MYC levels and impaired survival in putative EWS cancer stem cells. Our findings support the use of HDAC inhibition as a strategy to impair cell growth and survival and to reprogram EWS tumors towards differentiation. These results are consistent with our previous studies indicating that HDis can inhibit the growth and modulate differentiation of cells from other types of childhood pediatric tumors possibly originating from neural stem cells.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive type of brain tumor, characterized by excessive cell proliferation, resistance to apoptosis, and invasiveness. Due to resistance to currently available treatment options, the prognosis for patients with GBM is very dismal. The activation of gastrin-releasing peptide receptors (GRPR) stimulates GBM cell proliferation, whereas GRPR antagonists induce antiproliferative effects in in vitro and in vivo experimental models of GBM. However, the role of GRPR in regulating other aspects of GBM cell function related to tumor progression remains poorly understood, and previous studies have not used RNA interference techniques as tools to examine GRPR function in GBM. Here, we found that stable GRPR knockdown by a lentiviral vector using a short hairpin interfering RNA sequence in human A172 GBM cells resulted in increased cell size and altered cell cycle dynamics consistent with cell senescence. These changes were accompanied by increases in the content of p53, p21, and p16, activation of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR), and a reduction in p38 content. These results increase our understanding of GRPR regulation of GBM cells and further support that GRPR may be a relevant therapeutic target in GBM.