Maternal separation;

Escitalopram; Magnetic resonance imaging; Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Rat Early life stress is a potential precursor of eventual neuropsychiatric diseases and may result in altered neurodevelopment and function of the hippocampus, which thus provides a site at which potential interventions to modify the effects of early life stress may act. In this study, Sprague– Dawley rat pups comprising male and female animals underwent maternal separation (MS) for 180 min from postnatal days (PND) 2 to 14, or were left with their dams. They subsequently received daily administration of saline (0.9%), escitalopram (10 mg/kg), or no treatment during adolescence (PND 43–60). All adult animals underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bilateral hippocampal proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Neither MS nor escitalopram treatment had a significant effect on hippocampal volume. Adult rats tha