Prenatal stress dysregulates resting-state functional connectivity and sensory motifs

Zahra Rezaei; Zahra Jafari; Navvab Afrashteh; Reza Torabi; Surjeet Singh; Bryan E Kolb; Jörn Davidsen; Majid H Mohajerani

doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100345

Prenatal stress dysregulates resting-state functional connectivity and sensory motifs

Neurobiol Stress. 2021 May 27:15:100345. doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100345. eCollection 2021 Nov.

Authors

Zahra Rezaei¹, Zahra Jafari¹, Navvab Afrashteh¹, Reza Torabi¹, Surjeet Singh¹, Bryan E Kolb¹, Jörn Davidsen², Majid H Mohajerani¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada, T1K 3M4.
² Complexity Science Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1N4.

Abstract

Prenatal stress (PS) can impact fetal brain structure and function and contribute to higher vulnerability to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. To understand how PS alters evoked and spontaneous neocortical activity and intrinsic brain functional connectivity, mesoscale voltage imaging was performed in adult C57BL/6NJ mice that had been exposed to auditory stress on gestational days 12-16, the age at which neocortex is developing. PS mice had a four-fold higher basal corticosterone level and reduced amplitude of cortical sensory-evoked responses to visual, auditory, whisker, forelimb, and hindlimb stimuli. Relative to control animals, PS led to a general reduction of resting-state functional connectivity, as well as reduced inter-modular connectivity, enhanced intra-modular connectivity, and altered frequency of auditory and forelimb spontaneous sensory motifs. These resting-state changes resulted in a cortical connectivity pattern featuring disjoint but tight modules and a decline in network efficiency. The findings demonstrate that cortical connectivity is sensitive to PS and exposed offspring may be at risk for adult stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

Keywords: Cortical evoked responses; Prenatal stress; Resting-state functional connectivity; Sensory motifs; Spontaneous neural activity; Voltage-sensitive dye imaging.