Correlations between Metabolic Parameters, Blood Cytokine Levels, and Behavioral Parameters in Male and Female Rats of Different Age after Intrauterine Stress

We studied interrelationships between behavioral parameters, metabolic processes, and cytokine content in the blood of male and female rats at different stages of postnatal ontogeny after intrauterine stress (mothers were forced to swim in cold water from the 10th to the 16th day of pregnancy). Correlations between behavioral and metabolic parameters in prenatally stressed rats were revealed at an earlier age (day 21 of life) than in controls. In comparison with intact rats, in males exposed to intrauterine stress no relationships between these parameters were revealed at older age, while in females, their direction and character change on day 60 of life. In prenatally stressed males, correlations of the blood levels of IL-6 were revealed: inverse relationships with behavioral parameters on the days 21 and 30 and direct relationships with metabolic parameters on day 60 of life. In prenatally stressed females on day 30 of life, we observed negative correlations between IL-4 levels and metabolic parameters that were absent under normal conditions. Thus, intrauterine stress leads to reorganization of the relationships between the parameters of metabolic and immune processes, which are essential for the purposeful behavior of mammals. The effects of stress seem to depend on the sex of the offspring and stage of postnatal development.