OBJECTIVETo study the effect of postpartum depression (PPD) on adolescent depression of mice offspring.

METHODSTotally 48 Balb/c female mice were equally randomized into control group and stress group. Control group was not given any stress, whereas stress group were given chronic stress: constraining (6 h/d) combined with light stimulation for 24 hours (twice a week). The stress group was divided into 3 groups to measue the animals' behaviors immediately after modeling, three weeks after modeling, and three weeks after delivery to test whether the PPD models were successfully constructed. The first generation (F1) of normal mothers and PPD-born F1 were as follows: control group (CTL-F1) and PPD offspring group (PPD-F1). The 3-4-week-old male CTL-F1 and PPD-F1 mice (n=8 each) were weighed, and received sucrose preference test, forced swimming test, and novelty-supressed feeding test to measure the depression-like behaviors.

RESULTSThe 3-and 4-week-old PPD-F1 had significantly lower body mass than CTL-F1 (P=0.000, P=0.002). Also, the sucrose preference significantly decreased (P=0.000), the forced swimming immobility time significantly increased (P=0.001), the latency to feed significantly increased (P=0.000), while food intake significantly decreased (P=0.005).

CONCLUSIONPPD offspring may be more susceptible to depression,with a possible eary onset in adolescence.