The effects of 24‐hr maternal separation and of litter‐size reduction on the isolation‐distress response of 12‐day‐old rat pups

Hofer, Myron A.; Brunelli, Susan A.; Shair, Harry N.

doi:10.1002/dev.420260806

Cited by 34 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Temperature also was not a factor. While chilled pups are licked and groomed more frequently than their control pups (Stern & Johnson, 1990), and chilled pups may vocalize at a higher rate than warm pups depending on their prior isolation history (Blumberg, Sokoloff, Kirby, & Kent, 2000;Hofer et al, 1993), our observed differences in vocalization and maternal behavior were not due to any difference in pups' core temperatures since there were no differences in this measure. Finally, body weight was not a factor in differential call rates because while the Acute Isolates emitted as few calls as the Chronic Isolates compared to Home Nest pups, their body weight was the same as the Home Nest pups and significantly greater than that of the Chronic Isolates.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

“…In contrast, these results conflict with two studies from Hofer's laboratory with different isolation protocols. Twenty-four hours of maternal deprivation in 12-day-old pups did not affect the number of USVs compared to pups from control litters of a comparable size (Hofer, Brunelli, & Shair, 1993). In addition, pups reared in complete isolation from the day of birth (pup-in-the-cup procedure) showed a higher rate of USVs than controls when tested in a novel environment (Hofer et al, 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Neonatal social isolation alters both maternal and pup behaviors in rats

Zimmerberg

Rosenthal

Stark

2002

Developmental Psychobiology

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The development of emotional behavior is dependent on the early experiences of the infant and the quality of maternal care. In these experiments, the effects of social isolation during the preweaning period on both pup behavior and maternal responsivity were examined. In the first study, the number of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted after brief maternal separation was measured in neonatal rats with differing histories of social isolation. The social isolation procedure consisted of 5 days of daily separation from the dam and littermates for either 3 or 6 hr. At both ages tested, socially isolated pups vocalized significantly less than control pups. In the second study, the effects of prior isolation either daily for 5 previous days (Chronic Isolation) or for 4 hr prior to testing (Acute Isolation) were examined in a T-maze choice test. Pup vocalizations in the presence of the dam and dams' maternal behavior were assessed. When the dam was confined to the start box or during the maternal free access period, both Chronic and Acute Isolates vocalized less than pups that had never left the home nest. Dams spent more time with and licked and groomed more frequently and for a longer time both Chronic and Acute Isolates compared to pups that had always been with dams in the home nest. These results suggest that early isolation experience can alter subsequent responses to separation stress in neonatal rats and that maternal behavior is sensitive to the prior experiences of offspring.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Neonatal social isolation alters both maternal and pup behaviors in rats

Zimmerberg

Rosenthal

Stark

2002

Developmental Psychobiology

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“…Spearman rank order correlations also were performed and gave similar results. These low correlations for USV are not simply the result of a natural inconsistency in USV response levels from 1 day to the next: We analyzed data from a previous study (Hofer, Brunelli, & Shair, 1993) and found r .70 ( p .02) when control pups FIGURE 2 The development of USV responses to isolation observed in the three lines. The mean number of USV emitted during a 2-min isolation test is represented by the symbols given in the ®gure for pups in each line at each age.…”

Section: Time Course Of Development Of the Usv Response To Isolationmentioning

confidence: 88%

Developmental effects of selective breeding for an infantile trait: The rat pup ultrasonic isolation call

Hofer

Shair

Masmela

et al. 2001

Developmental Psychobiology

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This article describes how continued selection for divergent levels of the 10-day-old infant rat's ultrasonic vocal (USV) response to isolation affects the time course of development of that and other possible co-selected traits from 3 to 21 days postnatally. Since selective breeding for an infantile trait has not been reported before, we collected from colleagues a number of predicted outcomes that reflect the wide range of current opinion on the relationship between microevolutionary and developmental processes. After 15 generations of selective breeding, we found widely divergent USV responses between 10-day-old High USV line (300 USV/2 min) and low USV line (15 USV/2 min) pups. The developmental trajectory of USV responses at 3 and 7 days of age also was markedly altered in both these lines in comparison to the randomly bred controls, but was much less affected in 14-, 18-, or 21-day-old pups, contrary to all predictions. The development of other behavioral responses to isolation generally remained unaffected by the continued selection as did physical traits, measures of temperature regulation and classic developmental milestones. Only two traits showed evidence of co-selection: High line pups showed more urination/defecation in response to isolation from 10 days on, and more rapid ear canal opening at 10 days. These and other findings are presented and discussed in relation to the developmental and evolutionary concepts on which the different predictions were based.

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“…However, in the natural context, variations in maternal care might be of major importance. This is indicated by studies on the effects of handling (Bell et al 1971), maternal separation (D'Amato andCabib 1987;Zimmerberg et al 2003a, b), and litter size (Hofer et al 1993), and adoptions (Darnaudery et al 2004) on ultrasonic calling in infant rodents. Darnaudery et al (2004) found that pups raised by fostering dams showed less isolation-induced calling when compared to pups raised by their actual mothers, a finding which is similar to the present observation of lowered calling behavior in prenatal cross-fostered pups.…”

Section: Within-strain Embryo-transfer: Comparison Between B6jola Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Genetic Background, Gender, and Early Environmental Factors on Isolation-Induced Ultrasonic Calling in Mouse Pups: An Embryo-Transfer Study

et al. 2008

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Infant rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations when isolated from dam and littermates. Due to the context of their occurrence and the well described bidirectional modulation by substances known for their capability to influence emotionality, it was postulated that such calls reflect a negative affective state akin anxiety. Comparative studies observed pronounced differences in calling behavior between strains, which were paralleled by differences in maternal care. Therefore, it was recently hypothesized that early environmental factors may have strong impact on call production. Here, the relative contributions of genetic background, gender, and early environmental factors on calling behavior in C57BL/6JOlaHsd and C57BL/6NCrl were studied by using an embryo-transfer procedure. The results show that these sub-strains differ in the amount of calling and specific call features, like call frequency and amplitude. The embryo-transfer procedure indicated that the observed differences in the amount of ultrasonic calling are dependent on the dyadic interaction between mother and pup. Conversely, call features were primarily dependent on the genotype of the pup. Thus, call frequency and frequency modulation were solely dependent on the pup, i.e. its genotype and gender. However, there was one exception, namely call amplitude, which was solely dependent on the genotype of the mother, i.e. on early environmental factors. Furthermore, it was shown that particularly changes in call amplitude might be of high functional relevance, since a sub-strain dependent preference towards pups emitting calls with high amplitudes was observed. In total, it can be concluded that both genomic and nongenomic factors can tune calling behavior in mouse pups.

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The effects of 24‐hr maternal separation and of litter‐size reduction on the isolation‐distress response of 12‐day‐old rat pups

Cited by 34 publications

References 28 publications

Neonatal social isolation alters both maternal and pup behaviors in rats

Neonatal social isolation alters both maternal and pup behaviors in rats

Developmental effects of selective breeding for an infantile trait: The rat pup ultrasonic isolation call

Effects of Genetic Background, Gender, and Early Environmental Factors on Isolation-Induced Ultrasonic Calling in Mouse Pups: An Embryo-Transfer Study

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