Emotional stress in rats changes concentration and composition of extracellular DNA circulating in blood plasma under normal conditions and in cerebral ischemia.

ABSTRACT

We studied quantitative and qualitative characteristics of extracellular DNA circulating in the blood plasma of Wistar rats under normal conditions, in psychoemotional stress (after 18 hours of aggressive conflict situation), and in acute cerebral ischemia. It was found that animals predisposed to psychoemotional stress normally have increased levels of antibodies against low excreted fragment of transcribed region of ribosomal DNA repeat rich in cytosine-guanine (CpG). A sharp increase in the level of circulating extracellular DNA was noted. Its increase was more pronounced during ischemia against the background of psychoemotional stress than in the control. These data suggest that multiple stress exposures experienced during the life can result in accumulation of GpG-rich sequences in the plasma of individuals predisposed to psychoemotional stress.