Effect of Limited Bedding and Nesting in Early Ontogenesis on Gene Expression in the Hippocampus and Frontal Cortex of Adolescent Rats Subjected to Restraint

These data indicate that early-life stress induced by LBN leads to a sustained increase in baseline Fos expression in the amygdala and alters the metabolic response to acute stress in adolescence. The findings further suggest that the amygdala and ventral hippocampus are key regions where the expression of a limited set of stress-related genes is modulated by the interplay of early-life adversity and acute stress. These points to a potential role for amygdalar circuits in the altered stress reactivity observed following adverse early-life conditions.