Dr Greer Bennett

Placental progesterone production during late gestation has a major role in maintaining elevated neurosteroid levels during pregnancy. These levels of key neurosteroids, including allopregnanolone, are critical for optimal brain development during late gestation and the early neonatal period. The long gestation period (~70), in utero brain development and placental progesterone synthesis of the guineas pig makes this species very suitable for studying the mechanisms by which pregnancy compromises impact neurosteroid pathways. We have used models of intrauterine growth restriction and preterm birth to show that these challenges may suppress neurosteroid action and this likely contributes to the adverse outcomes following these conditions. Reduced allopregnanolone levels during late gestation result in reduced myelination and injurious brain cell death suggesting supplementation treatments may improve outcomes following compromised pregnancy. Guinea pig models of episodic prenatal maternal stress have been used to examine how these events lead to adverse behavioral outcomes for the offspring. We found that prenatal stress disrupts the neurosteroid pathways between the dam and fetus. Together this work indicates that compromises and stress during pregnancy and in the early neonatal period disrupt neurotropic and protective neurosteroid pathways leading to deficiencies that contribute to the adverse neurological and behavioral outcomes following these challenges. The use of neurosteroid-based supplementation therapies may represent a future range of therapeutic approaches that could be used to improve outcomes following stressful events in pregnancy and following premature birth.

Prenatal stress predisposes offspring to behavioral pathologies. These may be attributed to effects on cerebellar neurosteroids and GABAergic inhibitory signaling, which can be linked to hyperactivity disorders. The aims were to determine the effect of prenatal stress on markers of cerebellar development, a key enzyme in neurosteroid synthesis and the expression of GABAA receptor (GABAAR) subunits involved in neurosteroid signaling. We used a model of prenatal stress (strobe light exposure, 2 h on gestational day 50, 55, 60 and 65) in guinea pigs, in which we have characterized anxiety and neophobic behavioral outcomes. The cerebellum and plasma were collected from control and prenatally stressed offspring at term (control fetus: n = 9 male, n = 7 female; stressed fetus: n = 7 male, n = 8 female) and postnatal day (PND) 21 (control: n = 8 male, n = 8 female; stressed: n = 9 male, n = 6 female). We found that term female offspring exposed to prenatal stress showed decreased expression of mature oligodendrocytes (~40% reduction) and these deficits improved to control levels by PND21. Reactive astrocyte expression was lower (~40% reduction) following prenatal stress. GABAAR subunit (d and a6) expression and circulating allopregnanolone concentrations were not affected by prenatal stress. Prenatal stress increased expression (~150¿250% increase) of 5a-reductase type-1 mRNA in the cerebellum, which may be a neuroprotective response to promote GABAergic inhibition and aid in repair. These observations indicate that prenatal stress exposure has marked effects on the development of the cerebellum. These findings suggest cerebellar changes after prenatal stress may contribute to adverse behavioral outcomes after exposure to these stresses.

Prenatal stress has been associated with a variety of developmental changes in offspring, notably those associated with brain development and subsequent risk for neuropathologies later in life. Recently, the importance of the timing and the severity of the stressor during pregnancy has been emphasized with neurosteroids including allopregnanolone implicated in the regulation of stress and also for endogenous neuroprotection in offspring.Prenatal stress was induced using strobe light exposure in pregnant guinea pigs (term 71 days) in three defined stress exposure groups (Gestational Age (GA)35-65, GA50-65 and GA60-65). Stress was induced for 2 h (9-11 am) every 5 days via strobe light exposure. A fetal cohort were euthanased at term with fetal brains and plasma collected. Anxiety-like behaviour was evaluated at 18 days of age in a separate cohort of offspring with brains and plasma collected at 21 days of age. Markers for mature oligodendrocytes and reactive astrocytes were measured in the CA1 region of the hippocampus and the subcortical white matter. The neurosteroid allopregnanolone was measured by radioimmunoassay in offspring plasma.In the CA1 region of the hippocampus, fetuses from all stress groups showed reduced expression of mature oligodendrocytes and reactive astrocytes. By juvenility, all male stress exposure groups had recovered to levels of unaffected controls with the exception of the GA35-65 stress group. In juvenile females, mature oligodendrocyte marker expression was reduced in all stress groups and reactive astrocyte expression was reduced in the GA35-65 and GA60-65 stress groups by juvenility. Increased reactive astrocyte expression was also apparent in the subcortical white matter in both sexes both at term and at juvenility. Prenatally stressed offspring spent less time exploring in the object exploration test and also entered the inner zone of the open field less than controls at 18 days of age. Circulating allopregnanolone concentrations were significantly reduced in GA35-65 and GA 60-65 stress exposed fetuses with those in the GA35-65 stress group remaining reduced by juvenility.This study has shown the effects of differing levels of prenatal stress severity and timing on glial development, emotional behaviour and plasma allopregnanolone concentrations in offspring.

Elevated levels of neurosteroids during late gestation protect the fetal brain from hypoxia/ischaemia and promote neurodevelopment. Suppression of allopregnanolone production during pregnancy leads to the onset of seizure-like activity and potentiates hypoxia-induced brain injury. Markers of myelination are reduced and astrocyte activation is increased. The placenta has a key role in maintaining allopregnanolone concentrations in the fetal circulation and brain during gestation and levels decline markedly after both normal and preterm birth. This leads to the preterm neonate developing in a neurosteroid deficient environment between delivery and term equivalence. The expression of 5a-reductases is also lower in the fetus prior to term. These deficiencies in neurosteroid exposure may contribute to the increase in incidence of the adverse patterns of behaviour seen in children that are born preterm. Repeated exposure to glucocorticoid stimulation suppresses 5a-reductase expression and allopregnanolone levels in the fetus and results in reduced myelination. Both fetal growth restriction and prenatal maternal stress lead to increased cortisol concentrations in the maternal and fetal circulation. Prenatal stress results in reduced expression of key GABAA receptor subunits that normally heighten neurosteroid sensitivity. These stressors also result in altered placental allopregnanolone metabolism pathways. These findings suggest that reduced neurosteroid production and action in the perinatal period may contribute to some of the adverse neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes that result from these pregnancy compromises. Studies examining perinatal steroid supplementation therapy with non-metabolisable neurosteroid analogues to improve these outcomes are warranted.