Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Depression affects twice as many females than males. Notably, it is during periods of hormonal shifts that females experience a heightened risk for depression. One such time is the postpartum period which occurs after giving birth. In Canada, approximately 23% of mothers who give birth develop postpartum depression (PPD) and the risk of PPD increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the postpartum the brain and body undergo massive changes that play a role in depression onset. People that are depressed often have a smaller brain region known as the hippocampus. In the postpartum, we see marked decreases in neuroplasticity (the brains ability to form and make new connections) and increases in inflammation. Further, antidepressant treatments that target the serotonergic system can be beneficial in improving depression symptoms. However, these benefits are rarely seen in PPD. Additionally, children of mothers with PPD show an increased risk of mental illness themselves. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop better therapies to treat PPD to benefit both mother and child. Current research has outlined increased inflammation is a potential culprit for the decreased efficacy of antidepressants in the postpartum. To determine the involvement of inflammation in treatment efficacy in PPD, we administered a drug that reduces the effects of inflammation along with serotonin treatment in a rodent model of PPD. To measure efficacy we will measure depressive-like behaviours, and associated brain changes (inflammation and neuroplasticity). We also examined the offspring of PPD mothers, and looked at how maternal treatments altered the ability of offspring to be resilient to stress later in adult males and females. This project will study why we see decreased antidepressant efficacy in PPD and may promote new types of treatment. Very few studies examine the influence of PPD or how this might affect stress resilience in offspring, our studies aim to fill this knowledge gap.