Variations in parental care predict the age of puberty, sexual activity in adolescence and the age at first pregnancy in humans. These findings parallel descriptions of maternal effects on phenotypic variation in reproductive function in other species. Despite the prevalence of such reports, little is known about potential biological mechanisms and this especially true for effects on female reproductive development. We examined the hypothesis that parental care might alter hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian function and thus reproductive function in the female offspring of rat mothers that vary pup licking/grooming (LG) over the first week postpartum. As adults, the female offspring of Low LG mothers showed 1) increased sexual receptivity; 2) increased plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and progesterone at proestrus; 3) an increased positive-feedback effect of estradiol on both plasma LH levels and gonadotropin releasing-hormone (GnRH) expression in the medial preoptic region; and 4) increased estrogen receptor α (ERα) expression in the anterioventral paraventricular nucleus, a system that regulates GnRH. The results of a cross-fostering study provide evidence for a direct effect of postnatal maternal care as well as a possible prenatal influence. Indeed, we found evidence for increased fetal testosterone levels at embryonic day 20 in the female fetuses of High compared to Low LG mothers. Finally, the female offspring of Low LG mothers showed accelerated puberty compared to those of High LG mothers. These data suggest maternal effects in the rat on the development of neuroendocrine systems that regulate female sexual behaviour. Together with studies revealing a maternal effect on the maternal behavior of the female offspring, these findings suggest that maternal care can program alternative reproductive phenotypes in the rat through regionally-specific effects on ERα expression.

Studies across multiple organisms reveal considerable phenotypic variation in reproductive tactics. In some species, this variation is associated with maternal effects in which variation in maternal investment results in stable individual differences in reproductive function. Recent studies with the rat suggest that maternal effects can alter the function of neuroendocrine systems associated with female sexual behaviour as well as maternal behaviour. These maternal effects appear to be mediated by epigenetic modifications at the promoter for oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and subsequent effects on gene expression. The tissue‐specific nature of such effects may underlie the co‐ordinated variation in multiple forms of reproductive function, resulting in distinct reproductive strategies.

Variations in maternal care influence important life history traits that determine reproductive fitness. The adult female offspring of mothers that show reduced levels of pup licking/grooming (LG; i.e., low-LG mothers) show increased defensive responses to stress, accelerated pubertal development, and greater sexual receptivity than the female offspring of high-LG mothers. Amongst several species an accelerated pattern of reproductive development is associated with increased dominance-related behaviors and higher social rank. We hypothesize that rats from low-LG dams may thus also secure higher social rank as a means to compete for limited resources with conspecifics. In this study, social interactions were observed in triads of adult female rats aged p90 that received low, mid, and high levels of pup LG over the first week of life. Low- and mid-LG females had the highest pinning scores and high-LG rats the lowest, showing that low- and mid-LG adult females engage in greater play dominance-related behavior. Likewise, low- and mid-LG rats spent significantly more time drinking following 24 hr of water deprivation in a water competition test thus allowing them to secure a limited resource more easily than high-LG rats. Interestingly, pinning by play dominant females was increased when subordinates were sexually receptive (proestrus/estrus), suggestive of a process of reproductive suppression. Some evidence suggests that low-LG and mid-LG rats also show greater fecundity than high-LG rats. Variations in maternal care may thus have a long-term influence on the development of play dominance and possibly social rank in the female rat, which might contribute to reproductive success within a competitive environment.