Consequences of Early Maternal Deprivation on Neuroinflammation and Mitochondrial Dynamics in the Central Nervous System of Male and Female Rats

Early life stress (ELS) is associated with an increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, and both neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction seem to be central to mental health. Herein, using an animal model of ELS, a single episode of maternal deprivation (MD, 24 h on pnd 9) extensively documented to elicit behavioural anomalies in male and female Wistar rats, we investigated its consequences in terms of neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dynamics in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the hippocampal formation (HCF). MD differentially affected the brain content of cytokines: MD induced a transient increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-6) in the PFC, as well as in the levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in the HCF. MD also induced a significant decrease mitochondria citrate synthase activity, but MD did not exert significant changes in mitochondria Complex IV activity, revealing a generalized decrease in mitochondrial density without any change in mitochondrial respiration. In the present study, we demonstrate that MD induces neuroinflammatory processes in specific brain regions. Additional research is needed to better understand the temporal pattern of such changes, their impact on the developing brain, and their participation in the already well-known behavioural consequences of MD.