Measurement of Maternal Behavior

Mann, Phyllis E.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-185277-1.50027-7

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The two parameters recorded were (1) retrieval latency: time spent by the mother to pick up and to place each pup in the nest over 30 min; (2) time of contact: measured by the time spent by the mother licking and picking up pups over 15 min. These parameters provide reliable information on maternal behavior and are widelv used in studies on laboratory rats (Haney et al, 1989;Mann, 1993). .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption reverses the long-term impairment in glucocorticoid feedback induced by prenatal stress

et al. 1995

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The development of the organism is subjected to critical and complex influences during the perinatal period. Prenatal and postnatal stresses can have different long-term behavioral effects, and appropriate postnatal manipulations can counteract the behavioral effects of prenatal stress. In the present study, we investigated the involvement of changes in the activity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in the long-term effects of prenatal and postnatal events and of interactions between them. We investigated stress-induced corticosterone secretion and hippocampal corticosteroid receptors in male adult rats submitted to prenatal and/or postnatal manipulations.Repeated restraint during the last week of pregnancy was used as prenatal stressor, and adoption at birth was used to change the postnatal environment. We found that (1) prenatal stress prolongs stressinduced corticosterone secretion in adult rats, which was attributed to the observed decrease in central corticosteroid receptors; (2) adoption, irrespective of the stress experience of the foster mother, reverses the effects of prenatal stress; and (3) adoption per se increases maternal behavior and decreases the stress-induced corticosterone secretion peak in the adult offspring. In conclusion, certain prenatal and postnatal manipulations appear to have opposite long-term effects on the activity of the HPA axis, and adoption, probably by modifying maternal behavior, can protect against the effects of prenatal stress. Thus, changes in the activity of the HPA axis may be one of the biological substrates of the long-term effects of certain perinatal events.[Key words: corticosterone, corticosteroid receptors, hippocampus, prenatal stress, adoption, postnatal stress, pefinatal environment] Prenatal and postnatal environments exercise complex influences on the development of an organism. In particular, life events occurring during these two early periods of life can have different long-term behavioral effects. For example, in man, prenatal stress can induce mental retardation and sleep distur-

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption reverses the long-term impairment in glucocorticoid feedback induced by prenatal stress

et al. 1995

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“…Maternal behavior includes those actions that a female performs to provide for the successful rearing of her young. In the rat, maternal behavior includes nest building, pup retrieval, anogenital licking, grouping the pups in the nest, and crouching over them (Mann, 1994). The onset of maternal behavior is a complex event that is under neuroendocrine, neurochemical, and sensory control (Numan & Insel, 2003a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The maternal sensitization procedure is routinely used by researchers to investigate the neural and hormonal regulation of this behavior (Bridges, Thankey, & Scanlan, 2004; Fleming & Luebke, 1981; Mann, 1994; Mann, 2006; Mann & Babb, 2004; Numan & Insel, 2003). In a typical experiment, the females, which had been double‐ or triple‐housed, are individually housed until the completion of the experiment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental enrichment delays pup‐induced maternal behavior in rats

Mann

Gervais

2011

Developmental Psychobiology

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Adult, virgin rats do not spontaneously display maternal behavior when exposed to foster pups. However, continuous daily exposure of the female to foster pups for about 5-7 days can induce a set of maternal behaviors similar to those shown by postpartum dams. Induction latencies depend upon a number of factors, including the stress and anxiety levels of the female. The goal of this study was to attempt to mitigate the likely stressfulness of being singly housed during testing by enriching the rat's home cage environment and to determine if the concomitant environmental change would alter the latency to express maternal behavior. In addition, the effect of varying the number of test pups used for testing was examined. Two groups of virgin Sprague-Dawley rats were first tested on the elevated plus maze after 1 week of exposure to either control (standard housing) or enriched conditions. One week later, maternal behavior testing began using one or three pups. Upon completion of maternal behavior testing, plasma corticosterone concentrations were determined following a mild stressor. The data indicate that enrichment tends to increase anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus maze. In addition, enrichment delayed the onset of maternal behavior irrespective of the number of test pups. There were no effects of environmental enrichment on plasma corticosterone levels following exposure to a stressor. These results indicate that what is considered a modestly enriched environment delays the expression of pup-oriented responses and does not apparently reduce stress or improve performance on all behavioral tasks.

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“…Observation was focused on four components of maternal behavior, crouching, licking, retrieval and grouping, and nest building. The maternal responses were scored principally according to the methods described by others previously [1,25,26], and four components of maternal behavior of full scores were ascribed in this study to the following indices of behavior: (a) crouching: crouching over all the pups for more than 5 min during 2 h of the test; (b) licking: approaching pups and licking the pups for over 1 min; (c) retrieval and grouping: gathering all the pups to the nest place, and retrieving the pups by mouth when they were taken away from the place; (d) nest building: carrying wood shavings for nest building more than 3 times during 2 h of testing.…”

Section: Maternal Behavior Test Experiments Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The onset and maintenance of maternal behavior in mammals are considered to be controlled by the neuroendocrine system during the late gestation and lactating periods [1], Prolactin (PRL), that markedly increases in the blood right before parturition and during lactation, has been suggested to play an important role in the induction of maternal behavior in female rats. The onset of maternal behavior toward foster young is pro moted by secretion of PRL in steroid-treated ovariectomized rats and by administration of PRL in hypophysectomized female rats, or by treatment with ectopic pitu itary grafts in progesterone-treated hypophysectomized female rats [2][3][4][5][6][7], Thus, PRL is required for the ovarian hormones, estrogen and progesterone, to be effective in stimulating maternal behavior [8], However, maternal behavior toward foster pups has been demonstrated not only in nulliparous, ovariectomized or hypophysecto mized female rats but also in intact or castrated male rats by continuous exposure to the pups [9.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Induction of Brain Prolactin Receptor Long-Form mRNA Expression and Maternal Behavior in Pup-Contacted Male Rats: Promotion by Prolactin Administration and Suppression by Female Contact

Sakaguchi¹,

Tanaka²,

Ohkubo

et al. 1996

Neuroendocrinology

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Prolactin (PRL) is considered to induce maternal behavior toward foster young in female rats. In the present study, we studied the relationship between pup contact-induced maternal behavior and serum PRL concentrations and brain PRL receptor (PRL-R) mRNA expression in male rats. Both intact and castrated male rats exposed to foster pups gradually developed caretaking behavior such as crouching and licking, but their exhibitions of other maternal behavior components, retrieval/grouping and nest building, were incomplete. However, in the male rats displaying crouching and licking, the concomitant increases in serum PRL concentration and brain mRNA expression for long-form PRL-R were observed. The expression of short-form PRL-R mRNA in the brain was not stimulated by pup contact. Administration of PRL remarkably promoted the onset of those maternal responses in male rats. On the other hand, when an intact male rat was housed in a cage where a lactating female rat and her pups were living, his scores in maternal behavior tests toward pups were lowered. And, concomitantly, increases in serum PRL concentration and brain expression of long-form PRL-R mRNA were reduced. In castrated male rats, however, the ratings of maternal behavior toward foster young, serum PRL concentration increase, or brain long-form PRL-R mRNA expression were not reduced at all by cohabitation with a female and her pups. These findings indicated that maternal behavior was triggered and maintained in pup-contacted male rats through elevated serum PRL levels and induced brain long-form PRL-R.

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Measurement of Maternal Behavior

Cited by 12 publications

References 52 publications

Adoption reverses the long-term impairment in glucocorticoid feedback induced by prenatal stress

Adoption reverses the long-term impairment in glucocorticoid feedback induced by prenatal stress

Environmental enrichment delays pup‐induced maternal behavior in rats

Induction of Brain Prolactin Receptor Long-Form mRNA Expression and Maternal Behavior in Pup-Contacted Male Rats: Promotion by Prolactin Administration and Suppression by Female Contact

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