Psychological or physical prenatal stress differentially affects cognition behaviors Masoud Nazeri a , Mohammad Shabani a, ⁎, Samaneh Ghotbi Ravandi b , Iraj Aghaei c , Masoumeh Nozari a , Shahrzad Mazhari a a Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran b Department of Biology, Islamic Azad University of Jahrom, Fars, Iran c Guilan Road Trauma Research Center, Poursina Hospital, Guilan University of Medical Science, Rasht, Iran HIGHLIGHTS • Prenatal stress effects on motor function is sex and stressor dependent. • Motor function was impaired in male and female offspring in a stressor-dependent manner. • Prenatal stress effects on cognitive function are sex and stressor dependent. • Anxiety-like behaviors are only altered in female offspring of the stressed mothers. abstract article info Article history: Received 24 October 2014 Received in revised form 21 January 2015 Accepted 6 February 2015 Available online 7 February 2015 Keywords: Prenatal physical stress Psychological stress Cognitive function Offspring Introduction: Prenatal stress is proposed as a major risk factor in the development of cognitive impairments in the offspring. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of prenatal physical or psychological stress on the motor and cognitive functions of male and female offspring. Methods: Adult female rats were stressed during their conception using a novel method to induced whether physical or psychological stress. Animal offspring were then kept until adulthood. Elevated plus maze (EPM) was used to evaluate their anxiety-like behavior. Rotarod and wire grip were used to evaluate muscle strength and balance function. Morris water maze (MWM) and passive avoidance (PA) learning and memory paradigm were used to evaluate the cognitive function of the offspring. Results: Female offspring of both physical and psychological stress had an increased anxiety-like behavior in the EPM test in comparison to female control rats. Balance function was impaired in physical stressed female off- spring in comparison to the control and male offspring. Muscle strength was reduced in physical male and female offspring. Both male and female offspring groups that underwent prenatal physical and psychological stress had an impaired spatial learning and memory. PA learning and memory were impaired in both male and female off- spring except for the psychological stress female offspring in PA learning. Conclusion: Results of our study revealed that prenatal physical or psychological stress have different effects on motor and cognitive functions of the offspring. Male and female offspring were differentially affected by prenatal stress. We suggest more studies to evaluate the role of sex hormones on the effects of prenatal physical or psy- chological stress on cognitive and motor functions of the offspring. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Stress during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with cog- nitive impairments in adulthood of the children. Prenatal stress is con- sidered as a risk factor for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism [8,9,12]. Previous animal studies have demonstrated cognitive deficits similar to that observed in schizophrenic patients in the offspring of female exposed to different stressors [4,10]. Glucocorticoids play a prominent role in the development of neural system during fetal period as it is shown that HPA axis is reprogrammed by the stressors during pregnancy [10,20,23]. Though the exact mecha- nisms are not fully understood, exposure to excessive stress hormones during the fetal period leads to the delayed development of the nervous system and inhibition of neurogenesis in different parts of the brain, which might provide an explanation for the cognitive deficits observed in the offspring [7,14]. Physiology & Behavior 142 (2015) 155–160 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman 76198-13159, Iran. E-mail addresses: shabanimoh@yahoo.com, shabani@kmu.ac.ir (M. Shabani). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.02.016 0031-9384/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Physiology & Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/phb