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Review
. 2018 Apr:49:43-51.
doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2017.12.003. Epub 2017 Dec 21.

The metamorphosis of adolescent hormonal stress reactivity: A focus on animal models

Russell D Romeo  1
Affiliations
Review

The metamorphosis of adolescent hormonal stress reactivity: A focus on animal models

Russell D Romeo. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2018 Apr.

Abstract

As adolescents transition from childhood to adulthood, many physiological and neurobehavioral changes occur. Shifts in neuroendocrine function are one such change, including the hormonal systems that respond to stressors. This review will focus on these hormonal changes, with a particular emphasis on the pubertal and adolescent maturation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Furthermore, this review will concentrate on studies using animal models, as these model systems have contributed a great deal to our mechanistic understanding of how factors such as sex and experience with stressors shape hormonal reactivity during development. Continued study of the maturation of stress reactivity will undoubtedly shed much needed light on the stress-related vulnerabilities often associated with adolescence as well as providing us with possible strategies to mitigate these vulnerabilities. This area of research may lead to discoveries that enhance the well-being of adolescents, ultimately providing them with greater opportunities to mature into healthy adults.

Keywords: Adolescence; Developmental; HPA axis; Maturation; Puberty.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A schematic timeline of pubertal and adolescent development in rodents, such as rats in mice, including pre-adolescent (25–35 day of age), mid-adolescent (36–50 days of age), late-adolescent (51–64 days of age), and adulthood (≥ 65 days of age). Note that the exact age ranges that span particular stages of pubertal, adolescent, or adult development would need to take several factors into account, such as species, sex, and variable measured, as these factors could require contracting or expanding these general timeframes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plasma ACTH (pg/ml; top panel) and corticosterone (ng/ml; bottom panel) concentrations in pre-adolescent (28 days of age) and adult (77 days of age) male rats before, during, or after a 30 min session of restraint stress (black bar under x-axis). Asterisks indicate a significant difference between the pre-adolescent and adult animals at that time point. Redrawn from (Romeo et al., 2004a).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Plasma ACTH (pg/ml; top panel) and corticosterone (ng/ml; bottom panel) concentrations in male rats spanning adolescence and adulthood (30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 days of age) before, during, or after a 30 min session of restraint stress (black bar under x-axis). Asterisks in the top panel indicate a significant difference from the 60- and 70-day-old animals at that time point, while “#” indicates 30-day-old animals are significantly different from all other ages at that time point. Redrawn from (Foilb et al., 2011).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Plasma corticosterone (ng/ml) concentrations in pre-adolescent (28 days of age) and adult (77 days of age) male rats before or after a single or repeated exposure to a 30 min session of restraint stress (RS; black bar under x-axis). Bars that share a letter are not significantly different from one another. Redrawn from (Romeo et al., 2006a).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Number of FOS positive cells/40,000μm2 (top panels) and CRH and FOS double-labeled cells in the PVN (bottom panels) of pre-adolescent (28 days of age) and adult (77 days of age) male rats before or after a single (left panels) or repeated (right panels) exposure to a 30 min session of restraint stress (RS; black bar under x-axis). Asterisks indicate a significant difference between the pre-adolescent and adult animals at that time point. Redrawn from (Romeo et al., 2006a).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Photomicrographs of GR positive cells in pre-adolescent (28 days of age; left panels) and adult (77 days of age; right panels) male rats in the mPFC (A and B), PVN (C and D), CA1 (E and F), and dentate gyrus (G and H) of the hippocampal formation. Abbreviations: I, layer I of mPFC; II/III, layers II and III of mPFC; 3v, third ventricle. Scale bar, 100μm. Redrawn from (Dziedzic et al., 2014).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Regression analysis of plasma corticosterone (ng/ml) and ACTH in pre-adolescent (30 days of age; open circles) and adult (70 days of age; black circles) male rats 60 min after injection with ACTH. Redrawn from (Romeo et al., 2014).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Plasma progesterone (ng/ml; top panel) and testosterone (ng/ml; bottom panel) concentrations in pre-adolescent (28 days of age) and adult (77 days of age) male rats before, during, or after a 30 min session of restraint stress (black bar under x-axis). Asterisks indicate a significant difference between the pre-adolescent and adult animals at that time point. Note the decrease in testosterone secretion in the pre-adolescent animals between the basal and 0 min time points. Redrawn from (Romeo et al., 2004a; Romeo et al., 2005).
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