Within-litter variance in rat maternal behaviour

Cavigelli, Sonia A.; Ragan, Christina M.; Barrett, Chris; Michael, Kerry C.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2010.04.005

Cited by 25 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As previously mentioned, others have found between-litter effects of high levels of maternal licking with an increase in exploratory behavior versus offspring of lowlicking dams (Caldji et al, 1998), yet we found the opposite within litters. The current results compare to those from a prior study (Cavigelli et al, 2010), and suggest that variance in maternal behavior may have different functional roles at within-versus betweenfamily levels. Within-litter variance in maternal licking may reflect differential maternal responses to neonate sibling needs, whereas between-litter variance in maternal licking may reflect different maternal strategies that lead to average offspring differences across families.…”

Section: Within-litter Variability In Response To Novel Object and Nosupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Prior studies have shown that neonate weight is related to neonate huddling (Bautista, García-Torres, Prager, Hudson, & Rödel, 2010) and may predict maternal licking rates (Cavigelli et al, 2010). Litter and sex effects were controlled by centering variables to the family mean for same-sex siblings.…”

Section: Developmental Psychobiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These marks allowed us to identify individual pups as they received maternal licks and contacted the dam's snout. The procedure involved <1 min of daily pup handling, during which time, the mother was placed in a clean cage separated from pups for 15 min to ensure equal maternal separation for all pups (this process decreases mean anxiety-related behavior of offspring in adulthood, but it does not influence the variance in this behavior among siblings; Cavigelli, Ragan, Barrett, & Michael, 2010). We observed maternal and neonate behavior 8 times/day for 7 consecutive days from 1500 hours on PND 1 to 1300 hours on PND 8.…”

Section: Maternal and Pup Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Within‐litter variance in early rat pup–mother interactions and adult offspring responses to novelty

Ragan

Loken

Stifter

et al. 2011

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Siblings share similar genetics and environments, however, their behavior can be quite different. To determine if within-litter variance in neonatal-maternal interactions predict adult sibling behavioral variance, we observed mother-pup interactions during postnatal days 1-8 in four Sprague-Dawley rat litters and measured adult offspring behavioral responses to social and physical novelty. Our results indicate that pup and maternal behavior varied by at least twofold within each litter, and that specific pup behaviors within each litter (perioral contact) were associated with increased maternal licking. Furthermore, siblings that received more licks and made more perioral contact during postnatal days 1-8 had longer latencies to approach novel objects in adulthood than siblings that received less licking and made less perioral contact. This within-litter variance in postnatal mother and pup behavior and offspring adult behavior indicates that early social dynamics within families are an important area to examine to understand the development of sibling variance.

show abstract

Section: Within-litter Variability In Response To Novel Object and Nosupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Developmental Psychobiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Maternal and Pup Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Within‐litter variance in early rat pup–mother interactions and adult offspring responses to novelty

Ragan

Loken

Stifter

et al. 2011

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Harding, J.S. Lonstein 4 (Birnie et al, 2013;Cavigelli et al, 2010;Moore and Power, 1992;Pan et al, 2014;Plotsky and Meaney, 1993;Ragan et al, 2012;Rubin, Cheah, and Fox, 2001;Stanton and Levine, 1990;van Hasselt et al, 2012). Indeed, Ragan and Cavigelli have reported that the withinlitter differences in maternal licking received by rat and mouse pups are of the same magnitude as those found between litters, with the highest-licked pups receiving up to three times as many licking bouts as their lowest-licked siblings Ragan et al, 2010;Ragan et al, 2012).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 85%

Associations among within-litter differences in early mothering received and later emotional behaviors, mothering, and cortical tryptophan hydroxylase-2 expression in female laboratory rats

Ragan

Harding

Lonstein

2016

Hormones and Behavior

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". The effects of differential maternal care received on offspring phenotype in rodents has been extensively studied between litters, but the consequences of differential mothering within litters on offspring neurobehavioral development have been rarely examined. We here investigated how variability in maternal care received among female rat siblings (measured four times daily on postnatal days 4, 6, 8, and 10) relates to the siblings' later emotional and maternal behaviors. As previously reported, we found that some female pups received up to three times more maternal licking bouts compared to their sisters; this difference was positively correlated with the pups' body weights. The number of maternal licking bouts that females received was negatively correlated with their later neophobic behaviors in an open field during periadolescence, but positively correlated with their anxiety-related behavior in an elevated plus maze during adulthood. Licking received was also positively correlated with females' later likelihood to retrieve pups in a maternal sensitization paradigm. In addition, females' neophobia during adolescence and anxiety-related behavior during adulthood predicted some aspects of both postpartum and sensitized maternal responsiveness. Medial prefrontal cortex expression of tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2; enzyme necessary for serotonin synthesis) was negatively associated with early maternal licking received. Interestingly, cortical TPH2 was positively associated with the maternal responsiveness of sensitized virgins but negatively associated with it in postpartum females. These results indicate that within-litter differences in maternal care received is an often neglected, but important, contributor to individual differences in offspring socioemotional behaviors as well as to the cortical serotonin neurochemistry that may influence these behaviors.

show abstract

“…A sex-specific effect of within-litter vs . between-litter LG on offspring anxiety-like behavior has also been found only amongst female offspring (Cavigelli et al ., 2010). Though the long-term effects of LG on the anxiety-like behavior of both males and females have been reported, observations of maternal care during the postpartum period suggest that male pups receive more frequent anogenital licking than females (Moore & Morelli, 1979; Moore, 1984) and this differential care may account for the sex-specific outcomes associated with overall LG frequency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of temporal variation in maternal care for the prediction of neurobiological and behavioral outcomes in offspring.

Peña¹,

Champagne²

2013

Behavioral Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous studies in Long-Evans rats demonstrated a significant relationship between variation in pup licking/grooming and arched-back nursing (LG-ABN) and offspring development. However, maternal care is dynamic and exhibits significant temporal variation. In the current study, we assessed temporal variation in LG and ABN in lactating rats across the circadian cycle and determined the impact of these behaviors for the prediction of offspring hypothalamic gene expression, anxiety-like behavior, and responsiveness to high fat diet (HFD). We find that distinguishing between dams that engage in stable individual differences in maternal behavior (Low, Mid, High) requires assessment across the light-dark phases of the light cycle and across multiple postpartum days. Amongst juvenile female offspring, we find a positive correlation between maternal LG and mRNA levels of estrogen receptor alpha and beta and the oxytocin receptor (when LG is assessed across the light-dark cycle or in the dark phase). In young adults, we find sex-specific effects, with female High LG offspring exhibiting increased exploration of a novel environment and increased latency to approach HFD and male High LG offspring displaying increased activity in a novel environment and reduced HFD consumption. Importantly, these effects on behavior were primarily evident when LG was assessed across the light-dark cycle and ABN was not associated with these measures. Overall, our findings illustrate the dissociation between the effects of LG and ABN on offspring development and provide critical insights into the temporal characteristics of maternal behavior that have methodological implications for the study of maternal effects.

show abstract

Within-litter variance in rat maternal behaviour

Cited by 25 publications

References 42 publications

Within‐litter variance in early rat pup–mother interactions and adult offspring responses to novelty

Within‐litter variance in early rat pup–mother interactions and adult offspring responses to novelty

Associations among within-litter differences in early mothering received and later emotional behaviors, mothering, and cortical tryptophan hydroxylase-2 expression in female laboratory rats

Implications of temporal variation in maternal care for the prediction of neurobiological and behavioral outcomes in offspring.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About