Experimental Perinatal Neurosciences

Abstract Introduction: Gambling disorder generates substantial psychological, social, and economic harm not only for affected individuals but also for the relatives who support them. However, evidence regarding the psychological burden and coping strategies of these Affected Others (AOs) remains limited.

Experiments were performed in accordance with the Animal Research Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines with governmental approval by the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Wistar rats were bred in house and kept under a 12 h light/ dark cycle with food and water ad libitum. To mimic a clinically relevant condition of WMI, we designed an experimental setup combining prenatal inflammation and postnatal hyperoxia (Fig. 1A).

1 INTRODUCTION In the immature brain, external stimuli, including oxygen, can affect brain development. Furthermore, neonatal brain development can be adversely affected by nonphysiological exposure to higher oxygen levels. Even birth in room air conditions increases oxygen availability by a factor of 3 to 4 (Leviton et al., 2010; Reich et al., 2016; Volpe, 2009).