title: Previous and recent maternal experiences modulate pups' incentive value relative to a male without affecting maternal behavior in postpartum estrous rats.
abstract: This study extends the behavioral analysis of the postpartum estrus (PPE) which represents a unique period in the female rat's lifetime when maternal and sexual motivations co-exist. The aim of this study was to explore how previous and recent maternal experiences influence the maternal responses to pups when confronted with a male in a preference test or when they are presented independently in the home cage. To achieve this objective, we firstly compared the maternal behavior in the home cage and the preference for pups or a male in a Y-maze of primiparous and multiparous females approximately twelve hours after delivery. No differences were observed in the active and passive components of the maternal behavior of primiparous and multiparous rats; however second-time mothers made more efforts to gain access to the pups and tended to spend more time with them in the Y-maze than maternally inexperienced dams. In a second experiment, we assessed the influence of recent maternal experience with pups on PPE females' behavior by comparing pups vs. male preference and maternal behavior of females that had experienced continuous or limited (approximately two hours) interaction with their litters after parturition was completed. PPE rats subjected to reduced interaction with their pups preferred the male, while females continuously exposed to pups chose them over the male. This change in females' preference was not accompanied by significant alterations of maternal performance in the home cage, although anogenital licking tended to decrease in females with limited mother-litter interaction. Together, the results of these experiments indicate that previous and recent maternal experiences influence the motivational responses of PPE females, and that these effects are more evident when both motivations compete.
authors.affiliation: Seccion Fisiologia y Nutricion, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: dagrati@fcien.edu.uy.
authors.forename: Daniella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Agrati
authors.affiliation: Seccion Fisiologia y Nutricion, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferreño
authors.affiliation: Seccion Fisiologia y Nutricion, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uriarte
authors.affiliation: Seccion Fisiologia y Nutricion, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zuluaga
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Farmacobiología, CINVESTAV, México D.F., Mexico.
authors.forename: Alonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández-Guasti
authors.affiliation: Seccion Fisiologia y Nutricion, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Annabel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Maternal behavior; Maternal motivation; Mother-litter interaction; Postpartum estrus; Previous maternal experience; Pups-male preference