The maternal behavior in mammals is one of the most stable and highly conserved motivated species-specific behaviors and crucial for reproductive functions. During maternal behavior nursing and feeding are associated factors with survival of mammalian offspring, mammals nurse their newborn in a wide diversity in the behavioral. In the mother relationship the suckling is the behavioral patterns that identified and unified mammals and showed several selected evolutionary conserved behavior. The milk is an important reward for the pups, it ensure the surviving. The quality of maternal behavior is transmitted between generations; the inadequate maternal care has harmful effects in the adulthood individual. The specific maternal pattern modalities differ greatly between species; the human bonding has underlying biological mechanisms similar in mammals. Maternal brain is modified in order to prepare the mother-pup relationship, being crucial for the adequate behavioral display in the mother-pup relationship. A bulk of surrounding factor such as sensorial stimulus, temperature, ultrasonic communication, and reinforcing stimulus determines the quality of the nursing and care of the progeny. Mother care and nursing quality have long lasting effects in adulthood, determining cognitive and behavioral development and some specific psychiatric and psychological condition in human populations.
Newborn rats discriminate tastes and generate gustofacial response (GFR) because the neuronal substrate is already operating. The oral application of sucrose or quinine hydrochloride produces a specific GFR. We analyzed the effects of perinatal undernutrition on the GFR development of rats at two cue concentrations. In the undernourished group, pregnant dams received different percentages of a balance diet. After birth, prenatally underfed pups continue the undernourishment by remaining for 12 h with a foster dam, and for 12 h with a nipple-ligated mother. Cues were presented as a single droplet of sucrose, sodium chloride, or quinine at low or high concentrations onto the lips at postnatal days (PDs) 1 and 3, and mouth-opening (MOF) and lip-licking frequencies (LLF) were noted. On PD 1 the undernourished group showed smaller MOF increases in response to low salt and quinine stimuli than the controls but no differences at high concentrations. On PD 3, both low and high concentrations of the sucrose and quinine cues significantly increased the MOF in the underfed compared to the control group. Low but not high salt decreased LLF on PD1 in the underfed compared to the control group. On PD 3 the undernourished pups showed significant increases of LLF with low quinine compared with the control rats, but the reverse was observed with high quinine. These data suggest that perinatal undernutrition affects the development of the sensory and hedonic aspects of taste causing changes in GFR expression.
The impact of the gustatory stimuli on the rostral portion of the nucleus of the solitary tract (rNST) was investigated in developing rats, by using c-fos immunohistochemical staining. Wistar male rats of 5, 15, and 25 days of age were isolated from the mother for 12 h, then stimulated via the intraoral route with quinine, sucrose, or NaCl, and sacrificed 90 min later. The water-stimulated group showed minimal c-fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI) compared with taste-stimulated groups that exhibited different FLI in the rNST at the different ages. At all ages the quinine-stimulated group induced FLI in the medial subfield, while sucrose induced FLI in the lateral subfield of the rNST. The intensity of FLI was highest at P15, and it declined at P25. These findings provide detailed insight into the anatomical basis of rNST activation that is involved in early food intake and the learning capacity of the newborn
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