Acute hunger of rat pups elicits increased kyphotic nursing and shorter intervals between nursing bouts: Implications for changes in nursing with time postpartum.

We compare the effects on pup body weight and on maternal care of 4-hr separation from dam and littermates on postnatal Days 1 to 14 (early deprivation, ED) under different thermal and circadian conditions. ED was performed at either 21 degrees C (Cold), or 32 degrees C (Warm), and either during the light or dark phase. The comparison group was nonhandling (NH), either under a nonreversed (Light) or reversed (Dark) cycle. At weaning, Cold ED pups were of lower body weight than Warm ED pups, and Warm ED pups were of lower body weight than NH pups. Light and Dark ED pups received high care at reunion relative to NH, and Cold ED pups received higher care at several hours postreunion relative to Warm ED and NH pups. We propose that reduced pup weight and increased maternal care are short-term markers for the severity of Cold ED, and that this manipulation could therefore impact negatively on emotionality and cognition in adulthood.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Circadian‐ and temperature‐specific effects of early deprivation on rat maternal care and pup development: Short‐term markers for long‐term effects?

Rüedi‐Bettschen

Feldon

Pryce

2004

“…Ultrasonic calls by pups can modulate pup retrieving (Allin & Banks, 1972;Noirot, 1972;Smotherman, Bell, Starzec, Elias, & Zachman, 1974) and anogenital licking (Brouette-Lahlou, Vernet-Maury, & Vigouroux, 1992), and olfactory cues from pups are involved in the induction of anogenital licking (Brouette-Lahlou, Vernet-Maury, & Chanel, 1991) in rats and mice. Moreover, suckling stimulation of pups regulates various postures during nursing in rats (Stern, 1996;Stern & Johnson, 1990;Stern & Keer, 2002). Strain differences in the sensory stimuli from pups might alter arched-back nursing and body licking in BALB and CBA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…If CBA/Ca mothers cannot produce milk nutritious enough to satisfy their pups, the pups may suckle the nipple vigorously for a long time to obtain sufficient nutrition. Considering that kyphotic nursing is regulated by suckling stimulation dependent on hunger of pups in rats (Stern & Keer, 2002), intense suckling stimulation by pups may yield more nursing postures in CBA mothers than in BALB mothers, and a lower quality of milk from CBA mothers might result in a smaller weight gain in their pups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal care affects the development of maternal behavior in inbred mice

Shoji

Kato

2009

The present study investigated the effects of variations in maternal behavior on the development of maternal behavior of female offspring in BALB/c and CBA/Ca inbred mice. In Experiment 1, we conducted fostering within or between the two strains and observed the maternal behaviors of mothers and female offspring for 2 weeks postpartum. Although fostering changed the maternal behavior of mothers in both strains, CBA mothers generally showed greater frequency of nursing posture and pup licking than BALB mothers. BALB female offspring reared by CBA mothers showed more body licking than those reared by BALB mothers, whereas fostering did not affect the maternal behavior of CBA female offspring. In Experiment 2, we examined the maternal behavior of females of F1 hybrids derived from reciprocal crosses between the two strains to confirm the maternal effect demonstrated in Experiment 1. Female F1 hybrids from CBA mothers showed more arched-back nursing, body licking, and nest building than those from BALB mothers. These results suggested that maternal care affect the development of maternal behavior in inbred mice, though the contributions of genetic and prenatal factors cannot be ignored.

“…For instance, it is known that when appetite of pups is suppressed by infusing gastric preloads, their nipple attachment and suckling are reduced (Keer & Stern, 1996). In any situation in which sucklinginduced quiescent nursing is delayed due to pup factors (e.g., small litter size resulting in satiated pups; anesthesia of some of the pups), the dam keeps providing both anogenital and whole-body licking (Stern & Johnson, 1990;Stern & Keer, 2002). Given that the maternal handling paradigm which results in increased pup anogenital stimulation, similar to what we observed with pups treated with leptin, is associated with reduced HPA axis responsiveness in the adult (Anisman, Zaharia, Meaney, & Merali, 1998;Denenberg, 1999;Levine, 1967Levine, , 2001Levine, , 2005Meaney et al, 1991), we postulated that changes in behavior of the HF females also contributed to the effects that we observed on HPA axis of their offspring.…”

Section: Feeding Effects and Maternal Dietary Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal touch and feed as critical regulators of behavioral and stress responses in the offspring

Walker

2010

For half a century, Seymour Levine's pioneering work on the interactions between mother and infant have helped us understand the critical early factors that shape physiology and behavior in the adult offspring. The work from my laboratory described in this review was based on many experiments by Levine and coworkers demonstrating that the quantity and quality of maternal milk and of maternal-infant contact influence different aspects of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity in the neonate. We have extended this work by showing that maternal high-fat feeding during the prenatal and lactational period blunts stress responsiveness in neonatal pups, in part mediated by increased circulating leptin levels in the offspring. The blunting of stress responses during this specific neonatal period might be beneficial to prevent the negative effects of exaggerated glucocorticoid secretion on the developing brain. In line with Levine's previous work, we found that maternal licking of the pups reduced stress responsiveness and inflammation in pups subjected to modest repeated pain during the first weeks of life and that it also blunted adult sensitivity to thermal pain. These studies have important implications for human infants as mechanisms aimed at reducing stress responsiveness can be considered protective to the developing brain from exaggerated and untimely neuroendocrine and sympathetic stimulation. Non-invasive interventions targeted at maternal nutrition and maternal care are relatively easy to implement and might have a significant effect on the health outcome of the offspring, particularly in a vulnerable population of term and pre-term babies.