Impacto do estresse materno na morfologia do pênis da prole adulta de ratos Wistar

Abstract

Exposure to prolonged stress has a destructive effect on tissues, negatively influencing cell proliferation and differentiation. When it occurs during critical periods of development (pregnancy and/or lactation), it can program puppies for the future development of cardiovascular diseases, obesity, glucose intolerance and diabetes. However, it is not yet known whether this maternal stress programming is capable of inducing morphological changes in the penis. After approval by the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals (CEUA nº 9518170621), the mothers were divided into two experimental groups: Control Group (C) - control mothers, without any intervention (n=5); and Stress Group (E) - of mothers who suffered variable stress in the third week of pregnancy (14th to 21st day; n=5). The variable stress protocol consisted of metabolic isolation in a cage, wet sawdust, tilting the cage and deprivation of food and water. From birth, the puppies (n= 10, in group C and n= 9 in group E) were monitored until they were three months old, the date of euthanasia. Body mass was checked at birth, at 21 days and at 90 days and food intake was checked daily. At euthanasia, fat deposits (retroperitoneal, epididymal, subcutaneous) and the penis were removed for histomorphometric analysis (areas of the penis and tunica albuginea; and area densities of connective tissue, smooth muscle and sinusoidal space). The data were analyzed for normality using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the Mann Whitney test was used for non-normal distributions and the Student's t-test was used for normal distributions, considering p<0.05. At birth and weaning, group E had lower weights than group C, -33.72% (p= 0.0422) and -17.07% (p= 0.0018), respectively. However, the final mass and body mass delta showed no difference. Food consumption and fat deposits were also the same. In turn, group E presented higher glycemic values at 30 and 60 days of life, [+20.59% (p= 0.0042) and +14.56% (p= 0.0079)], respectively; without showing a difference at 90 days, when compared to group C. Regarding the measurement of the areas of the penis and the surface densities of the corpora cavernosa components, there was no difference between the groups. Thus, the results indicate that gestational stress is an important metabolic programmer that generates low birth weight and leads to postnatal catch-up. However, early exposure to stress did not change the morphology of the offspring's penis in adulthood.