The effects of early developmental stress and exercise intervention on neurodegeneration in a rat model of Parkinson's disease

• Main Author: Warton, Fleur L
• Other Authors: Russell, Vivienne A
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2015
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11069

Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-253). === Early developmental stress has been shown to produce numerous deleterious effects, e.g. the later development of affective disorders, and this has been related to chronic enhanced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Animal studies have shown that maternally separated rats exhibit increased anxiety- and depression-like behaviour in adulthood, although other evidence shows hyperactivity and impulsivity in such cases. Given that stress has these behavioural effects, it is of interest to determine whether early developmental stress might enhance the toxicity of a later unrelated neural insult. The 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of Parkinson's disease involves the selective unilateral lesion of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons. In this group of studies it was hypothesized that maternal separation might enhance the toxic effects of 6-OHDA.