title: Paternal care paradoxically increases offspring seizure susceptibility in the El mouse model of epilepsy.
abstract: The El mouse is a model of idiopathic epilepsy in which seizures emerge on Postnatal Days (PNDs) 80-90, although time to first seizure can be modified by experiential factors including handling during development and history of past seizures. This study tested the hypothesis that a significant increase in the amount of parental investment would impact seizure susceptibility in adult El offspring. The study used a single dam control, in which the litter was reared by a female biological parent, and a biparental experimental group, in which both biological parents reared the litter. Components of parental care and pup body weights were quantified on PNDs 2-21, and adult offspring were examined using a handling-induced seizure susceptibility (HISS) test on PNDs 80-90 to assess the long-term impact of alterations in the perinatal environment. As expected, presence of both parents did increase parental/pup contact time by 350% relative to single-mother parenting and also reduced body weight, an index of perinatal stressor exposure, in already underweight El offspring. Accordingly, HISS testing of adult El offspring revealed a deleterious effect of biparental rearing, which increased seizure incidence to 30% relative to 0% for the single dam condition. These results suggest that the presence of a second care provider in addition to the dam constitutes a form of stressor exposure in El pups and, as a consequence, reduces the time to first seizure in genetically susceptible offspring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Orefice
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Heinrichs
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009035:Mothers; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology