title: Maternal separation alters social odor preference development in infant mice (Mus musculus).
abstract: This study examined whether daily periods of maternal separation during the first two weeks of life would decrease attraction to familiar nest odors in CD-1 mice 10 and 14 days old. We also investigated whether placing a group of mice (Mus musculus) in nest shavings during the 180-min separation period would mitigate possible separation-induced deficits. The maternal separation procedure has been widely used as a rodent model for the effects of inconsistent or inadequate early caretaking on human development. From postnatal day (PND) 1 to 14, litters were separated from the dam, but not littermates for either 15 or 180 min, or were facility-reared controls. Control, facility-reared mice preferred home-cage nest to clean familiar shaving odors on PND 10, but not PND 14. In contrast, home-cage nest odors attracted maternally separated mice on both test days. Our results suggest that maternal separation maintains the olfactory tether to the nest in a period when the attraction normally begins to weaken.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. nrthomas@syr.edu
authors.forename: Nathaniel R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Laura K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Fonken
authors.forename: Michelle E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: LeBlanc
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cornwell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001245:Association Learning; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D051379:Mice / Q000254:growth & development / Q000523:psychology*; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D009812:Odorants; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012903:Smell; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment