title: Sex- and age-dependent effects of early postnatal sibling deprivation on spatial learning and memory in adult rats.
abstract: In this study, we investigated the effects of early postnatal sibling deprivation (EPSD) on spatial learning and memory in adult rats. Litters were culled to one pup with its mother on postnatal day (PN) 1 or 7 and their spatial learning and memory ability were examined with Morris water maze in adult. EPSD on PN1 improved, but on PN7 impaired performance of the spatial learning task in adult female rats. However, EPSD did not have any effect on the spatial learning ability in adult male rats.
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiao-Yi
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Xiang Yang
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Therese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kosten
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012737:Sex Factors; D035781:Siblings; D012931:Social Environment; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*