title: Neonatal behaviors associated with ultrasonic vocalizations in mice (mus musculus): A slow-motion analysis.
abstract: Infant rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) when isolated from the mother and littermates. While USVs reportedly promote maternal behavior, their communicatory role is still controversial. We performed a detailed behavioral characterization in 7-day-old CD-1 Swiss mice to describe (a) behavioral patterns accompanying or immediately preceding or following the USV and (b) how selected USV features are modulated according to the behavioral pattern being performed. The present results represent an ethogram of mouse pup behavior in close temporal proximity to USV, providing further information to evaluate the functional role of USVs in the framework of the mother-offspring relationship. A significant increase of head rising behavior immediately prior to the USV and a behavioral activation displayed by pups in conjunction with it suggest that pups behave in a way that may favor interaction with their mothers.
authors.affiliation: Section of Behavioral Pathophysiology, Laboratorio di Fisiopatologia di, Organo e di Sistema, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161 Roma, Italy. branchi@iss.it
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Branchi
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Santucci
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puopolo
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alleva
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000523:psychology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D051379:Mice / Q000523:psychology*; D009043:Motor Activity; D012934:Social Isolation; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014465:Ultrasonics; D014741:Video Recording; D014828:Vocalization, Animal