Olfactory preference for mother over home nest shavings by newborn rats

Polan, H. Jonathan; Hofer, Myron A.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199807)33:1<5::aid-dev2>3.0.co;2-p

Cited by 48 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A similar role for somatosensory learning, particularly the facial whiskers, may also be important in early attachment (Polan and Hofer, 1998;Landers and Sullivan, 1999b). Both somatosensory and olfactory learning are NE dependent (Landers and Sullivan, 1999a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unique Neural Circuitry for Neonatal Olfactory Learning

Moriceau¹,

Sullivan²

2004

J. Neurosci.

129

112

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Imprinting ensures that the infant forms the caregiver attachment necessary for altricial species survival. In our mammalian model of imprinting, neonatal rats rapidly learn the odor-based maternal attachment. This rapid learning requires reward-evoked locus ceruleus (LC) release of copious amounts of norepinephrine (NE) into the olfactory bulb. This imprinting ends at postnatal day 10 (P10) and is associated with a dramatic reduction in reward-evoked LC NE release. Here we assess whether the functional emergence of LC ␣2 inhibitory autoreceptors and the downregulation of LC ␣1 excitatory autoreceptors underlie the dramatic reduction in NE release associated with termination of the sensitive period. Postsensitive period pups (P12) were implanted with either LC or olfactory bulb cannulas, classically conditioned with intracranial drug infusions (P14), and tested for an odor preference (P15). During conditioning, a novel odor was paired with either olfactory bulb infusion of a ␤-receptor agonist (isoproterenol) to assess the target effects of NE or direct LC cholinergic stimulation combined with ␣2 antagonists and ␣1 agonists in a mixture to reinstate neonatal levels of LC autoreceptor activity to assess the source of NE. Pups learned an odor preference when the odor was paired with either olfactory bulb isoproterenol infusion or reinstatement of neonatal LC receptor activity. These results suggest that LC autoreceptor functional changes rather than olfactory bulb changes underlie sensitive period termination.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unique Neural Circuitry for Neonatal Olfactory Learning

Moriceau¹,

Sullivan²

2004

J. Neurosci.

129

112

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“…However, in order for infant-attachment to occur, the rat pup must first learn to identify the caregiver and exhibit the social behaviors necessary for survival such as orienting to and approaching the caregiver, grasping the nipple and nursing (50, 168, 169). Infant-attachment learning in rodents revolves around the pup’s ability to learn and develop a preference for the mother’s odor, which is diet dependent and can change postnatally (47, 170–174). Since rat pups are born deaf and blind, they must rapidly learn their mother’s odor, which conveys distal and proximal information about the mother’s location, and helps the pups orient to the mother, approach her and elicit care (169, 175).…”

Section: Attachment Learning During a Sensitive-period In Rat Pupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Life Trauma and Attachment: Immediate and Enduring Effects on Neurobehavioral and Stress Axis Development

Rincón-Cortés

Sullivan

2014

Front. Endocrinol.

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Over half a century of converging clinical and animal research indicates that early life experiences induce enduring neuroplasticity of the HPA-axis and the developing brain. This experience-induced neuroplasticity is due to alterations in the frequency and intensity of stimulation of pups’ sensory systems (i.e., olfactory, somatosensory, gustatory) embedded in mother–infant interactions. This stimulation provides “hidden regulators” of pups’ behavioral, physiological, and neural responses that have both immediate and enduring consequences, including those involving the stress response. While variation in stimulation can produce individual differences and adaptive behaviors, pathological early life experiences can induce maladaptive behaviors, initiate a pathway to pathology, and increase risk for later-life psychopathologies, such as mood and affective disorders, suggesting that infant-attachment relationships program later-life neurobehavioral function. Recent evidence suggests that the effects of maternal presence or absence during this sensory stimulation provide a major modulatory role in neural and endocrine system responses, which have minimal impact on pups’ immediate neurobehavior but a robust impact on neurobehavioral development. This concept is reviewed here using two complementary rodent models of infant trauma within attachment: infant paired-odor-shock conditioning (mimicking maternal odor attachment learning) and rearing with an abusive mother that converge in producing a similar behavioral phenotype in later-life including depressive-like behavior as well as disrupted HPA-axis and amygdala function. The importance of maternal social presence on pups’ immediate and enduring brain and behavior suggests unique processing of sensory stimuli in early life that could provide insight into the development of novel strategies for prevention and therapeutic interventions for trauma experienced with the abusive caregiver.

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“…The other precocious sensory modality in the rat is olfaction: rats demonstrate a preference for their mother's odour at 2 days of age [44]. Rudimentary sniffing behaviour can be observed at P4, but it is not until P10–11 that the typical adult sniffing behaviour (in combination with head pointing) emerges, and by P15 rat pups systematically sniff at everything in their home cage [39,45].…”

Section: The Development Of Sensory-motor Systems In the Ratmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of spatial behaviour and the hippocampal neural representation of space

Wills

Muessig

Cacucci

2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The role of the hippocampal formation in spatial cognition is thought to be supported by distinct classes of neurons whose firing is tuned to an organism's position and orientation in space. In this article, we review recent research focused on how and when this neural representation of space emerges during development: each class of spatially tuned neurons appears at a different age, and matures at a different rate, but all the main spatial responses tested so far are present by three weeks of age in the rat. We also summarize the development of spatial behaviour in the rat, describing how active exploration of space emerges during the third week of life, the first evidence of learning in formal tests of hippocampus-dependent spatial cognition is observed in the fourth week, whereas fully adult-like spatial cognitive abilities require another few weeks to be achieved. We argue that the development of spatially tuned neurons needs to be considered within the context of the development of spatial behaviour in order to achieve an integrated understanding of the emergence of hippocampal function and spatial cognition.

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Olfactory preference for mother over home nest shavings by newborn rats

Cited by 48 publications

References 29 publications

Unique Neural Circuitry for Neonatal Olfactory Learning

Unique Neural Circuitry for Neonatal Olfactory Learning

Early Life Trauma and Attachment: Immediate and Enduring Effects on Neurobehavioral and Stress Axis Development

The development of spatial behaviour and the hippocampal neural representation of space

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