title: Postnatal undernutrition in rats: attempts to develop alternative methods to food deprive pups without maternal behavioral alteration.
abstract: Two methods were investigated as attempts to undernourish rat pups without the disturbances in maternal behavior that accompany the procedures used to date for this purpose. In the 1st method, a litter of 12 pups was raised by both a lactating mother and a "sensitized" female. The sensitized female was provided under the assumption that she could correct for the deficit in maternal care when 1 mother raises a large litter. The results showed that the pups raised by the 2 females were constantly removed by the females from each other's nests; the females engaged in constant fighting and showed altered maternal behavior. As a consequence the pups lost more weight than control underfed young. The 2nd method consisted of removing 6-8 nipples from virgin females which were mated 10 days later. After delivery these females raised litters of 6 pups. Their maternal behavior was equal to that of unoperated controls, and at weaning the pups had 20-50% less body weight. This method could be useful to study undernutrition effects on behavior, without confounding experimental variables.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D007774:Lactation; D008098:Litter Size; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D012919:Social Behavior