%0 Journal Article
%T Sexually dimorphic effects of a prenatal immune challenge on social play and vasopressin expression in juvenile rats
%A Patrick V Taylor
%A Alexa H Veenema
%A Matthew J Paul
%A Remco Breedewold
%A Stephanie Isaac
%A Geert J de Vries
%J Biology of Sex Differences
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2042-6410-3-15
%X Pregnant rats were given intraperitoneal injections of the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS ¨C 100£¿¦Ìg /kg) or saline on the 15th day of pregnancy. Offspring were tested for social play behaviors between postnatal days 26¨C40. Brains were harvested on postnatal day 45 and processed for arginine vasopressin (AVP) mRNA in situ hybridization.In males, LPS treatment reduced the frequency of juvenile play behavior and reduced AVP mRNA expression in the medial amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. These effects were not found in females. LPS treatment did not change AVP mRNA expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, or supraoptic nucleus of either sex, nor did it affect the sex difference in the size of the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area.Given AVP¡¯s central role in regulating social behavior, the sexually dimorphic effects of prenatal LPS treatment on male AVP mRNA expression may contribute to the sexually dimorphic effect of LPS on male social play and may, therefore, increase understanding of factors that contribute to sex differences in social psychopathology.
%K Lipopolysaccharides
%K Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis
%K Medial amygdaloid nucleus
%K Prenatal
%K Play behavior
%K Sex differences
%K SDN-POA
%K Development
%U http://www.bsd-journal.com/content/3/1/15/abstract