Abstract # 2071 A rodent model of anxiety: The effect of perinatal immune challenges on gastrointestinal inflammation and integrity

Abstract

Background Anxiety disorders affect close to 10% of the world’s population, accounting for 30% of the global non-fatal disease burden, and costing the global economy US$1 trillion each year. Although their aetiology remains unknown, it has been suggested that anxiety disorders occur in response to altered gastrointestinal (GI) functioning, as the presence of a GI disorder will most often precede the diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. The current study aimed to determine whether the well-characterized animal model of neuropsychopathology, the maternal immune activation (MIA) model, produced GI inflammation and integrity disruptions, in association with anxiety-like behaviour. Method Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to the viral mimetic PolyI:C on gestational days (GD) 10 and 19. Evidence of GI inflammation and barrier integrity was assessed in the small and large intestine in both neonatal and adult offspring. Results Neonatal offspring exposed to MIA exhibited an increased intestinal inflammatory profile with evidence of disruptions to GI tight junction protein mRNA. In addition, adult offspring exhibited altered tight junction protein mRNA expression and an increase in anxiety-like behaviours. Conclusion These results indicate that the rat MIA model, which is well documented to produce behavioural, neurochemical and neuroanatomical abnormalities, also produces GI inflammation and integrity disruptions. We suggest that this model may be a useful tool to elucidate biological pathways associated with anxiety disorders.