title: Retrieving of pups by neonatally stressed mothers.
abstract: In the rat, perinatal food and maternal deprivation provoke long-lasting effects upon the retrieving responses of dams to displaced pups. In the current study, the retrieving latency and the disruption in the body area of pups chosen by the mother to transport them to a new location was investigated on days 4, 8 and 12 postpartum in lactating Wistar rats. Rats, neonatally underfed by daily (12 h) mother-litter separation in an incubator from days 1 to 23 postpartum, exhibited prolonged retrieving latencies and disruption in the body area of young ones chosen by the dam to transport them to the nest. Furthermore, neonatally underfed dams frequently transported pups in a rude manner eliciting sonic distress cries from them compared to control mothers. These findings are possibly relevant to understand the impact of epigenetic influences on offspring brain and physiological maturation partly mediated through maternal care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Neurobiology and Neurophysiology, Institute of Neurobiology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Campus UNAM Juriquilla Querétaro, Qro., Mexico 76001 Mexico. masal@servidor.unam.mx
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salas
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torrero
authors.forename: Mirelta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Regalado
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Perez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D007774:Lactation; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013312:Stress, Physiological