Preeclampsia as a possible risk factor for memory impairment, anxiety- and depressive-like behavior in offspring

Rationale Preeclampsia is a condition that can affect the health in offspring at adult life. The effect on several systems has been described, but less is known about its effect on neuropsychiatric disorders at early ages. Objective Evaluate the possible relationship of preeclampsia with development of anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, as well as memory impairments in male and female early adolescent offspring from preeclamptic mice. Methods Thirty pregnant females were divided into control group receiving vehicle, and preeclampsia group receiving L-NAME in drinking water at a dose of 60 mg/Kg from day 10 of pregnancy until delivery. Offspring was weaned and sexed at 4 weeks after birth. Each group was evaluated using the elevated plus maze test (anxiety- like response), tail suspension test (depressive-like behavior) and the recognition of novel objects test (recognition memory), in addition to the open field test was performance to corroborate their motor activity and validate our results. Results We found that preeclampsia produces behavioral alterations in offspring, and this effect is dependent on sex. The male offspring from preeclampsia showed an enhancement in the time that mice spend in the close arms in the elevated plus maze test, and longer immobility time in the tail suspension test, compared to the offspring from healthy pregnancies. On the other hand, female offspring from preeclampsia showed a lower percentage of recognition in the memory test compared to offspring from normal pregnancy. Conclusions These results suggest that preeclampsia predisposes early adolescent young male offspring to develop anxiety- and depressive-like behavior as well as memory impairment in early adolescent young female offspring.