Abstract
Purpose
Adversity in early life can induce metabolic defects in exposure to stress in adulthood. Therefore, the exploration of involving mechanisms can be helpful in the treatment of metabolic disorders. So, the present study was conducted in terms of exploring the effects of interaction between early postnatal stress and young adulthood psychological stress on insulin secretion and pancreatic GLUT-2 levels in male rats.
Methods
Footshock as a model of early life stress (at 2 weeks of age) and psychological stress induced by communication box as a model of young adulthood stress (at 8–10 weeks of age) were induced in male Wistar rats for five consecutive days (2 times/day). Blood samples were drawn to measure glucose, insulin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and homeostasis model assessment of β-cell dysfunction (HOMA-B), before and after stress protocol in young adult rats. Corticosterone was measured on days 1 and 5 of stress induction. The day after the stress period, factors including glucose tolerance, TNF-alpha, isolated islets’ insulin output and levels of pancreatic GLUT-2 protein via western blotting were determined.
Results
The combination of early footshock exposure and psychological stress during adulthood did not affect plasma corticosterone, but increased plasma insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-B and TNF-alpha levels. Plasma TNF was not only increased by the combination of both stressors, but also after only E STR exposure. HOMA-IR was increased in both Psy STR and E + Psy-STR groups. Plasma glucose just increased in Psy STR group. The combination of these two life stressors further increased the in vitro insulin secretion from isolated islets in response to 16.7-mM glucose. The level of Glut2 was increased in Psy STR and decreased in both E STR and E + Psy STR groups. Finally, glucose tolerance was impaired and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was increased in E + Psy STR group.
Conclusions
In conclusion, inducing stress in early life makes the organism more susceptible to metabolic defects in exposure to psychological stress later in life.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Hossein Khaleghzadeh-Ahangar, the Assistant Professor at Babol University of Medical Sciences for his aid in English editing. This work was supported by Diabetes Research Center (Grant 3069).
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Zardooz, H., Sadeghimahalli, F. & Khodagholi, F. Early postnatal stress impairs insulin secretion in response to psychological stress in adult rats. J Endocrinol Invest 44, 277–286 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-020-01291-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-020-01291-9