title: Plasticity in the olfactory bulb of the maternal mouse is prevented by gestational stress.
abstract: Maternal stress is associated with an altered mother-infant relationship that endangers offspring development, leading to emotional/behavioral problems. However, little research has investigated the stress-induced alterations of the maternal brain that could underlie such a disruption of mother-infant bonding. Olfactory cues play an extensive role in the coordination of mother-infant interactions, suggesting that motherhood may be associated to enhanced olfactory performances, and that this effect may be abolished by maternal stress. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the impact of motherhood under normal conditions or after gestational stress on olfactory functions in C57BL/6 J mice. We report that gestational stress alters maternal behavior and prevents both mothers' ability to discriminate pup odors and motherhood-induced enhancement in odor memory. We investigated adult bulbar neurogenesis as a potential mechanism of the enhanced olfactory function in mothers and found that motherhood was associated with an increased complexity of the dendritic tree of newborn neurons. This motherhood-evoked remodeling was totally prevented by gestational stress. Altogether, our results may thus provide insight into the neural changes that could contribute to altered maternal behavior in stressed mothers.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1215, Magendie Neurocenter, Neurogenesis and Pathophysiology group, 146 rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux-33077, France.|Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux-33077, France.
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Belnoue
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1215, Magendie Neurocenter, Neurogenesis and Pathophysiology group, 146 rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux-33077, France.|Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux-33077, France.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malvaut
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1215, Magendie Neurocenter, Neurogenesis and Pathophysiology group, 146 rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux-33077, France.|Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux-33077, France.
authors.forename: Elodie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ladevèze
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1215, Magendie Neurocenter, Neurogenesis and Pathophysiology group, 146 rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux-33077, France.|Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux-33077, France.
authors.forename: Djoher Nora
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Abrous
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1215, Magendie Neurocenter, Neurogenesis and Pathophysiology group, 146 rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux-33077, France.|Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux-33077, France.
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koehl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D008568:Memory; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D055495:Neurogenesis; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013312:Stress, Physiological