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. 2011 Dec 1;70(11):1024–1032. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.08.005

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Postnatal serotonin type 2 receptor blockade prevents the dysregulated pattern of expression of the immediate early gene Arc within the prefrontal cortex in response to adult-onset chronic immobilization stress observed in maternally separated animals. Shown is the experimental paradigm (A) involving postnatal treatment with the serotonin type 2 receptor antagonist ketanserin (Ket) or vehicle (Veh) to rat pups from control (Ctl) or maternal separation (MS) groups followed by exposure in adulthood to sham or chronic immobilization stress (CIS) as described in Methods and Materials. Shown are representative autoradiograms for the vehicle-treated Ctl, MS, CIS, and MS + CIS groups, as well as the ketanserin-treated Ctl, MS, CIS, and MS + CIS groups (B). The robust induction of Arc messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in the prefrontal cortex observed in the vehicle-treated MS + CIS group was not observed in the MS + CIS group that received postnatal Ket treatment. Postnatal Ket treatment to Ctl animals did not alter Arc mRNA levels as compared with vehicle-administered control animals. Results are expressed as percent of the control + vehicle group and are the mean ± SEM (n = 5–10 per group). ($p < .01 significantly different from MS, δp < .05 significantly different from CIS; nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn's post hoc test). P, postnatal day.