Hippocampus
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Previous studies have shown a relationship between adversity in adolescence and health outcomes in adulthood in a sex-specific manner. Adolescence is characterized by major changes in stress-responsive regions of the brain, including the hippocampus, the site of ongoing neurogenesis throughout the lifespan. Prepubertal male and female rats exhibit different acute reactions to chronic stress compared to adults, but less is known about whether these stress-induced changes persist into adulthood. ⋯ The majority of BrdU-labeled cells were co-labeled with NeuN, an endogenous marker of mature neurons, indicating that neurogenesis was decreased in the DG of adult female rats that had undergone chronic restraint stress in adolescence. Although male rats were more responsive to the chronic stress as adolescents showing higher corticosterone levels and reduced body weight, as adults they showed a slight increase in cell survival and no effect of adolescent stress on basal corticosterone levels. These results suggest that stress during adolescence can have effects on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function and hippocampus plasticity in adulthood, particularly in female rats.