Altered gravity effects on mothers and offspring: the importance of maternal behavior.
In this paper, I review and discuss recent studies of pregnant, parturient and lactating rat mothers and neonates exposed to hypo- and hypergravity. These studies are revealing new insights into how deviations form Earth-normal gravity may affect fundamental reproductive and ontogenetic processes in mammals. By way of background, I will first briefly summarize the spaceflights that have carried mammalian mothers and their offspring into space.
Ronca
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Developmental Gravitational Biology Laboratory, Life Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000523:psychology; D000833:Animals, Suckling; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005260:Female; D018471:Hypergravity; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D051379:Mice; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal; D051381:Rats; D013026:Space Flight; D015996:Survival Rate; D014893:Weightlessness