Maternal behavior in basic science: translational research and clinical applicability

Abstract

Clinical aspects of the mother-infant relationship and related issues are well studied and very relevant to medical practice. Nevertheless, some approaches in this context cannot plausibly be investigated in humans due to their ethical implications and to the potential harm to the mother's and child's health. Studies on maternal behavior in animals have evident importance to some clinical fields, such as psychiatry and psychology, particularly considering topics, including mother-infant relationship, postpartum depression, cognitive and behavioral development of children, and associated issues. Hence, this theoretical article draws attention to the clinical applicability of studies about maternal behavior in animals to psychobiology, taking into account a translational perspective.

Neonatal Anoxia Impacts Rats’ Maternal Behavior and Offspring Development due to Ultrasonic Vocalization’s Impairment

“…The amount of licking/grooming received by the offspring persistently affects them since offspring of mothers who show deficits in this behavior are susceptible to stress factors during adulthood [57, 64]. We suggest that further studies consider the transgenerational effects of maternal neglect since the well-established long-term effects of licking/grooming [31, 32, 65].…”

Effects of sleep modulation during pregnancy in the mother and offspring: Evidences from preclinical research

“…Animal research on maternal behaviour has proven useful from a translational perspective (Pires, Tufik, Giovenardi, & Andersen, 2013). Maternal behaviour is a very specific feature among the rodent behavioural repertoire, with the ultimate goal of assuring the viability and survival of the offspring, being defined as any action performed by a female that intends to feed, warm, nurture and protect the progeny (Beery & Francis, 2011 (Hoshino, Wakatsuki, Iigo, & Shibata, 2006;Smarr, Grant, Perez, Zucker, & Kriegsfeld, 2017).…”