Prenatal stress increases the risk of depressive disorders in adult offspring. In this study, Tamura and coworkers show that prenatal stress impairs the morphological and functional maturation of hippocampal granule cells in adult rat offspring via the downregulated expression of mineralocorticoid receptors. Prenatal stress reduced the dendritic complexity and spine density of neonatal-generated granule cells, which persists into adulthood. The authors suggest that prenatal stress-induced downregulation of mineralocorticoid receptors attenuates neuronal maturation, which results in dysfunction of neuronal networks in adulthood.

Tamura M et al., Prenatal Stress Inhibits Neuronal Maturation through Downregulation of Mineralocorticoid Receptors.

J. Neuroscience 31: 11505-11514 (2011).

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/32/11505.abstract