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Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, WMB suite 4000, 101 Woodruff Cir, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to L A M Welberg; Email: leonie.welberg{at}emory.edu)

This study investigated the effects of acute and chronic restraint stress during the third week of pregnancy on placental 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11ß-HSD2) activity in rats. Acute exposure to stress on gestational day 20 immediately up-regulated placental 11ß-HSD2 activity by 160%, while chronic stress from day 14 to day 19 of pregnancy did not significantly alter basal 11ß-HSD2 activity. However, the latter reduced the capacity to up-regulate placental 11ß-HSD2 activity in the face of an acute stressor by 90%. Thus, immediate up-regulation of 11ß-HSD2, the feto-placental barrier to maternal corticosteroids, may protect the fetus against stress-induced high levels of maternal corticosteroids, but exposure to chronic stress greatly diminishes this protection.

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