, 1995, Franzek et al., 2008 and Hoek et al., 1998). Similar observations were reported in offspring of women pregnant during Chinese famine in 1959–1961 as higher incidence of schizophrenia was reported in these offspring (St Clair et al., 2005). Interestingly, a study in Russia of individuals exposed to a famine during the same period as the Dutch Hunger Winter, found no adverse effects on metabolic disease susceptibility (Stanner et al., 1997). In contrast to the Netherlands where the famine was followed by a period of growth and abundance, the standard of living in Russia remained poor throughout

adulthood, suggesting that disorders associated with the prenatal environment may occur when the prenatal and postnatal environment do not match. This concept of a mismatch between the early life and adult phenotype resulting in pathology development has been elegantly described by Nederhoff and Schmidt (Nederhof and S3I-201 concentration Schmidt, 2012). The studies in humans investigating the effects of exposure to stressful events during pregnancy like war, however, are confounded by changes in food availability and variation in the severity of exposure within and between studies. Furthermore, data from a Swedish study indicated that the perceived level of stress may be an important factor

was well. During the Chernobyl disaster, the perceived level of stress predicted the offsprings’ risk of emotional and cognitive disorders better than the actual experience level of radiation (Kolominsky et al., 1999). In order to understand the underlying mechanism of prenatal stress exposure on the offspring’s health, better controlled studies are necessary. selleckchem Better control of environmental factors can be obtained by using animal models over in a laboratory setting. The most common models of prenatal stress either use repeated restraint stress or chronic

variable stressors. However, there are some studies that have specifically targeted social stress using a social defeat paradigm. Exposure to prenatal stress (PNS) has been associated with higher risk of affective disorders in humans (Brown et al., 1995 and Watson et al., 1999). Rodent models support this association, as decreased exploration in an elevated plus maze and increased reactivity to novelty was shown in PNS-exposed rats (Vallee et al., 1997), indicative of increased anxiety-like behavior. Additionally, in behavioral tests designed to assess depression-like phenotypes, prenatally-stressed rats display increased immobility, suggesting increased depression-like behavior (Morley-Fletcher et al., 2003 and Morley-Fletcher et al., 2004). Furthermore, PNS rats showed decreased social interaction (Lee et al., 2007), however, there were no differences in sucrose intake in this study (Lee et al., 2007). These studies suggest that, at least in males, PNS exposure may predispose towards a depression- and anxiety-like phenotype.