Consequences of Postnatal Stress: Maternal Separation in Rats Induces Long-Lasting Changes on Glutamate Transporters

Abstract

Background: There is increasing evidence that environmental factors, particularly stressful events experienced early in life, increase the risk of developing a psychiatric illness and/or a behavioural disorder. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute and chronic maternal separation (AMS and CMS) plus cold stress on the expression patterns of Glutamate Transporters (TGlus) in the developing and young adult Central Nervous System (CNS). As regulation of Glutamate (Glu) extracellular levels is of key importance, sodium-dependent Glu uptake using synaptosome-enriched fractions isolated from Frontal Cortex (FC) and Hippocampus (Hic) was also studied.