title: Maternal exposure to environmental enrichment before and during gestation influences behaviour of rat offspring in a sex-specific manner.
abstract: The beneficial effects of Environmental Enrichment (EE) applied immediately after weaning or even in adulthood have been widely demonstrated. Less is known about the possible changes in behaviour and brain development of the progeny following the exposure of dams to EE. In order to further investigate this matter, female rats were reared in EE for 12weeks, from weaning until delivery. After having confirmed the presence of relevant behavioural effects of EE, both control and EE females underwent mating. Maternal behaviour was observed and male and female offspring were then administered a battery of behavioural test at different ages. EE mothers showed a decreased frequency of total nursing and, during the first 2days of lactation, an increase in licking/grooming behaviour. Maternal exposure to EE affected offspring behaviour in a sex-specific manner: social play behaviour and anxiety-like behaviour were increased in males but not in females and learning ability was improved only in females. As a general trend, maternal EE had a marked influence on motility in male and female offspring in both locomotor activity and swimming speed. Overall, this study highlights the importance of environmental stimulation, not only in the animals directly experiencing EE, but for their progeny too, opening the way to new hypothesis on the heritability mechanisms of behavioural traits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: annarita.zuena@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Anna Rita
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zuena
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: manuela.zinni@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zinni
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: chiara.giuli@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giuli
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; Fondazione Ethoikos, Convento dell'Osservanza, 53030 Radicondoli (Si), Italy. Electronic address: carlo.cinque@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cinque
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: sebastiano.alema@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni Sebastiano
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Alemà
authors.affiliation: Environment and Health Department, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.giuliani@iss.it.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: assia.catalani@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Assia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Catalani
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "Vittorio Erspamer", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: paola.casolini@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Casolini
authors.affiliation: Fondazione Ethoikos, Convento dell'Osservanza, 53030 Radicondoli (Si), Italy. Electronic address: r.cozzolino@ethoikos.it.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cozzolino
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D018782:Maze Learning; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012919:Social Behavior; D013550:Swimming
keywords: Anxiety; Early programming; Maternal behaviour; Play behaviour; Social hierarchy; Spatial learning