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PubMed1998

Maternal cradling and infant nipple preferences in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

This study investigated lateral biases in nipple preferences, maternal cradling, carrying, and retrieval in 41 rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) mother-infant dyads living in two captive social groups. Observations were made during the first 6 weeks of infant life using a combination of scan sampling and ad-libitum sampling techniques. Infants exhibited a significant left-nipple preference in the first weeks of life but the bias decreased with infant age. Mothers showed a left-arm bias in carrying their infants but no significant lateral bias in cradling or retrieval. Our results suggest that the left-side cradling bias reported in studies of humans and some other primates reflects a bias in the infant's nipple preference rather than in maternal behavior. The infants' preference for the left nipple is consistent with both Salk's (1960) heartbeat hypothesis and with more recent hypotheses linking this lateral bias with brain asymmetry and hemispheric specialization for mother-infant communication.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2000

Maternal care, hippocampal synaptogenesis and cognitive development in rats.

We report that variations in maternal care in the rat promote hippocampal synaptogenesis and spatial learning and memory through systems known to mediate experience-dependent neural development. Thus, the offspring of mothers that show high levels of pup licking and grooming and arched-back nursing showed increased expression of NMDA receptor subunit and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA, increased cholinergic innervation of the hippocampus and enhanced spatial learning and memory. A cross-fostering study provided evidence for a direct relationship between maternal behavior and hippocampal development, although not all neonates were equally sensitive to variations in maternal care.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

Infant proneness-to-distress temperament, maternal personality, and mother-infant attachment: associations and goodness of fit.

66 mother-infant pairs were examined when the infants were 9 and 13 months. The purpose of this report was to examine relations between infant proneness-to-distress temperament, maternal personality characteristics, and mother-infant attachment. There were no main-effect relations between infant proneness-to-distress temperament as assessed at 9 months and infant attachment classification at 13 months. This was true whether security of attachment (A and C vs. B) or proposed temperament (A1-B2 vs. B3-C2) groupings of attachment classifications were examined. Infant proneness-to-distress temperament, however, was associated with maternal behavior and personality. Furthermore, security of attachment could be predicted by an interaction between maternal personality and infant proneness-to-distress. The importance of considering goodness-of-fit relations in predicting attachment security is discussed.

Affect↗

PubMed1983

[Effect of mammillary body lesions in adult rats on the survival and development of their young].

The lesion of the mammillary bodies in the adult female did not alter the oestrous cycle, sexual behavior, parturition, or the number and weight of pups at birth. Neither did it alter maternal behavior (nesting behavior, cleaning of the pups, placentophagia, nursing position, retrieving, etc.). Nevertheless, more than 30% of the pups born from the mothers with total lesions of the mammillary bodies died during the first 10 days after birth. The weight of the surviving pups was greatly impaired and the pups showed severe undernourishment. The effects of the lesion of the mammillary bodies on the survival and weight of the pups were dependent on the mass of tissue destroyed in that structure.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Influence of the test situation on pup retrieval behavior of normal and undernourished lactating rats.

Undernutrition of dams and pups disrupts the retrieval efficiency of mothers. However, if the mothers are assessed in their home cages, they spend more time with their litters. In the present study the effect of test conditions on pup retrieval behavior of mothers receiving a 25% (well-nourished group) and 8% casein diet (undernourished group) was examined. In agreement with previous studies, undernourished mothers spent more time with their litters than well-nourished dams as lactation proceeded. Pup retrieval behavior varied with test conditions. In the first experiment, the maternal behavior of dams was assessed by the standard procedure (pups were separated from their mother and scattered over the floor of the home cage). The mother was then returned and the number of retrieved pups was recorded. From day 3 to 8, the retrieval efficiency of undernourished dams decreased, while the retrieval efficiency of well-nourished mothers did not vary. In the second experiment, mothers were subjected to a single retrieval test (on day 9 of lactation) using the procedure described for experiment 1. No difference between well-nourished and undernourished mothers was observed. In the third experiment, seven-day-old pups were separated from the mothers and returned individually to a clean home cage. Dietary treatment did not affect the retrieval efficiency. However, undernourished dams reconstructed the nest more slowly than did well-nourished dams. Taken together, these results suggest that pup retrieval behavior of the undernourished mother is not impaired by dietary restriction when the maternal environment is disturbed minimally.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1988

Sexually dimorphic behaviors.

Sex differences in behavior are the result of natural and sexual selection. The dimorphic classes of behavior described here, courtship, copulatory, and parental behaviors, reflect both kinds of evolutionary selective pressures. We can further distinguish two kinds of mechanisms that produce differences in male and female behaviors. In one, both sexes can perform a behavior but one does not because of sex differences in the external stimuli or the endocrine milieu. Maternal behavior in rodents falls into this category, as do certain other reproductive behaviors. In the other, the sensory, CNS, or motor components that produce behaviors are different in males and females. Many courtship and copulatory behaviors are in this category. I have considered some cellular mechanisms that generate sex differences in behavioral effector neurons, including sensitivity to hormones, cell number, and synaptic connectivity. A common feature of many such systems is a degree of developmental arrest: sexually dimorphic, hormone-sensitive neurons or muscles are immature at stages when other cells have completed differentiation. The cellular and molecular processes whereby hormones harness the developmental programs of behavioral effector cells remain largely unknown and are the focus of active investigation.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

Role of the midbrain periaqueductal gray in maternal nurturance and aggression: c-fos and electrolytic lesion studies in lactating rats.

the upright, crouched, or kyphotic, nursing posture of lactating rats is dependent on suckling stimulation from pups. Because of the neuroanatomical connections of the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and its sensorimotor integration of the analogous lordosis posture displayed by sexually receptive female rats, the possible role of the PAG in kyphosis was investigated using c-fos immunocytochemistry and electrolytic lesions. Lactating rats interacting with and nursing a litter of suckling pups showed greater Fos-immunoreactive nuclei in the lateral and ventrolateral caudal PAG (cPAGl,vl) compared with dams receiving nonsuckling somatosensory, distal, or no stimulation from pups. In contrast, this pattern was not evident in the rostral PAG, where the highest Fos levels occurred in nonsuckled dams, or in five other brainstem sites with either no group differences (peripenduncular, dorsal raphe, and pontine nuclei) or negligible Fos (ventral tegmental area, spinal trigeminal nuclei). After bilateral electrolytic lesions of the cPAGl,vl during gestation or on day 7 postpartum, active maternal behaviors, such as retrieval and licking of pups, and total nursing time were essentially normal. Kyphotic nursing, however, was reduced by 85%, nursing in prone and supine postures increased substantially, and 24 hr litter weight gains were reduced, particularly early in lactation (by 26%). Furthermore, lesioned rats attacked a strange male twice as often as controls did, which is suggestive of reduced fearfulness. These results extend the known roles of the PAG in reproductive and defensive behaviors to the postural control of suckling-induced kyphotic nursing and the modulation of maternal aggression.

Aggression↗

PubMed1991

Oxytocin selectively increases holding and licking of neonates in preweanling but not postweanling juvenile rats.

Preweanling rats exhibit components of maternal behavior (MB) after brief periods of contact with neonates; the latency of onset of MB rises considerably after weaning. Oxytocin (OXT) stimulates MB in adult rats. The effects of intracisternal (IC) administration of OXT (2 micrograms) on pup-directed and other behaviors in preweanling and postweanling juvenile rats were tested. Compared with saline and no treatment, OXT significantly increased active holding of pups in preweanling but not postweanling juvenile rats. No other components of adultlike MB were stimulated by OXT. OXT also decreased inactive touching of pups and robustly increased selfgrooming in juveniles at all ages tested. It is concluded that OXT facilitation of active pup-holding and licking in preweanling rats may be an extension of OXT-induced self-grooming to pups and may also be related to OXT activation of MB in adult rats.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1993

Pediatric clinical assessment of mother-child interaction: concurrent and predictive validity.

This study examines whether clinical assessments of mother-infant interactions collected at 8-month health supervision visits are associated with standardized measures of the home environment and mother-child interaction collected at later dates in other settings, and whether these clinical assessments are associated with the child's future developmental and behavioral status. The observation component of the Pediatric Review of Children's Environmental Support and Stimulation (PROCESS) was collected on 46 consecutive mother-infant pairs during an 8-month health supervision visit. The Home Observation Measurement of Environment (HOME) Inventory was collected on these infants' families at 12 and 36 months of age, and mother-child interaction was assessed in a laboratory setting at 30 months. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were collected at 12 and 24 months, and the Stanford Binet Intelligence Test and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist were collected at 36 months of age. The 8-month clinical ratings were strongly associated with the measures of the home environment and mother-child interaction and with child developmental and behavioral problem status at 36 months. These findings attest to the power and usefulness of systematic observations of maternal behavior by the clinician during health supervision visits.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2003

Peripartum cortisol levels and mother-infant interactions in Japanese macaques.

As evidence accumulates regarding the influence of hormones and stress-related conditions on maternal behavior, it becomes critical to better understand the relationship between physiological stress and the ability to cope with infants. Eight Japanese macaque females were observed 3 hr per week during the first 12 weeks after parturition; fecal samples were collected twice a week from each mother, starting 4 weeks before parturition and ending 4 weeks after parturition. Time spent in contact, maternal responsiveness, latency of response, and maternal rejection were measured and correlated with peripartum excreted cortisol and estradiol metabolite levels. Two indices of peripartum hormonal status were also tested against behavior: the postpartum stress index, and the postpartum cortisol/prepartum estradiol ratio (F/E). Postpartum cortisol levels showed a positive correlation with maternal rejection. The cortisol/estradiol ratio was positively correlated with rejection and latency of response, and negatively correlated with maternal responsiveness. Prepartum cortisol levels and the postpartum stress index did not correlate with any aspect of maternal behavior. Our findings suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity per se is not enough to predict the quality of interaction between mother and infant. Only when cortisol is high relative to estradiol could it be symptomatic of a possible negative feedback response involving stress, adrenal activity, and the ability of mothers to cope with the additional problems imposed by newborns.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Site and behavioral specificity of periaqueductal gray lesions on postpartum sexual, maternal, and aggressive behaviors in rats.

Bilateral electrolytic lesions of the lateral and ventrolateral caudal periaqueductal gray (cPAGl,vl) of lactating rats are known to severely reduce suckling-induced kyphosis (upright crouched nursing), which is necessary for maximal litter weight gains, and impair sexual behavior during the postpartum estrous, while heightening nursing in other postures and attacks on unfamiliar adult male intruders. In the present report, the site specificity of the cPAG with respect to the control of these behaviors was determined by comparing lesions of the cPAGl,vl with similarly sized lesions within the rostral PAG (rPAG) and surrounding mesencephalon. The previously seen effects of prepartum cPAGl,vl lesions on kyphotic nursing, sexual proceptivity and receptivity, maternal aggression, and daily litter weight gains were replicated. Additionally, the post-lesion facilitation of aggression was found to be behaviorally specific, first by being directed toward an adult, but not to a nonthreatening juvenile male rat, and second, by requiring the recent presence of the pups, being eliminated or decreased 24 h after removal of the litter. Damage to the rPAG did not affect nursing or sexual behaviors, and had only a minimal effect on maternal aggression. Lesions of the rPAG, however, greatly impaired the dams' ability to rapidly release pups held in the mouth, but not to pick them up or carry them directly to the nest during retrieval. Separate regions of the PAG, therefore, are differentially involved in the control of specific components of behaviors in lactating rats.

Aggression↗

PubMed1999

Effects of unilateral suckling on nursing behavior and c-fos activity in the caudal periaqueductal gray in rats.

In rats, suckling elicits kyphosis-the bilaterally symmetrical, upright, humpbacked nursing posture-and maximal expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in a region of the caudal periaqueductal gray (cPAG) that mediates the sensorimotor integration of kyphosis. We determined the effects of prepartum unilateral nipple removal on nursing behavior and c-fos expression during a 60-min mother-litter interaction on Day 7 postpartum. Compared with dams suckled by 6 pups bilaterally, dams suckled unilaterally displayed essentially normal maternal behaviors, including kyphosis. Unilaterally suckled dams, however, showed an increase in the abnormal prone nursing posture, a decrease in proportion of kyphotic nursing of total time over pups, and a 20% higher contralateral/ipsilateral ratio of cPAG neurons expressing c-fos. These results are consistent with an incompletely lateralized neural pathway conveying suckling stimulation to the cPAG and provide a mechanism whereby kyphosis is elicited by unilateral suckling when pups initiate nursing from their supine dam.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Long-term effects of parity on opioid and nonopioid behavioral and endocrine responses.

Parity (number of parturitions) affects the endogenous opioid system. Multiparous lactating rats are less sensitive to the effects of morphine (MOR) on maternal behavior (MB) and analgesia than primiparous lactating rats. In order to determine whether these changes in opiate sensitivity persist beyond the lactational state, the present study compared the sensitivity of ovariectomized nulliparous and nonlactating primiparous rats to MOR's effects on MB (Experiment 1), analgesia (Experiment 2) and prolactin release (Experiment 3) in addition to stress-induced analgesia (Experiment 2). In Experiments 1 and 2 primiparous rats were allowed to give birth and remain with their litter (culled to 6 pups) until weaning. At that time the pups were removed and the dams and age-matched nulliparous rats were ovariectomized. Four weeks later animals were exposed to foster pups daily in order to induce MB (Experiment 1). On day 5 or 6 of full MB the primiparous and nulliparous rats received either saline or one of four doses of MOR (0.625, 1.25, 2.5, or 5.0 mg/kg, SC) and 60 min later MB was assessed. MOR, at the 2.5 mg/kg dose, disrupted MB in a significantly greater percentage of nulliparous as compared to primiparous animals (100% vs. 55%, respectively). In Experiment 2, nulliparous and nonlactating primiparous animals received 2.5 mg/kg of MOR four weeks after ovariectomy. Analgesia was assessed on a tail-flick apparatus 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min postinjection. One week later the same animals were exposed to cold-water swims (CWS, 2 degrees C, 3.5 min) and tail-flick latencies were again recorded.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Analgesia↗

PubMed1999

The mother rat's vomeronasal organ is involved in detection of dodecyl propionate, the pup's preputial gland pheromone.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the respective roles of main and accessory olfactory systems in a particular pattern of Wistar rat maternal behavior: specific licking of pup's anogenital areas, a behavioral pattern crucial to pup survival--nonlicked pups cannot defecate, and die. Dodecyl propionate (DP), a chemical agent from rat pup's preputial glands was found to direct and regulate pup's anogenital licking. Primiparous dams underwent one of the following treatments: surgical removal of the vomeronasal organ (hereafter VNX), irrigation of nasal cavities with 5% ZnSO4 solution (ZN), both these treatments (VNX + ZN), surgical control (SC), saline irrigation control (SA), both these treatments (SC + SA), and normal control (N). Fewer pups (only 75%) of VNX dams survived to 15 days of age compared to controls or to females rendered anosmic by zinc-sulfate irrigation of the nasal cavity (>95% survival). Furthermore, pup growth (mass increase over time) was impaired by VNX and/or ZN treatment. Greater than normal amounts of time were spent licking pups' anogenital area by VNX females, although these dams did not spend as much time as normal females in close contact with either pups heads or filter papers anointed with dodecyl propionate. The experiments reported herein suggest that the chemosensory receptors in the vomeronasal organ of dams mediate MAGL responses to pup pheromone, dodecyl propionate, a pheromone from pups' preputial glands secretion, sustaining pups' anogenital licking by dams.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2006

Programming social, cognitive, and neuroendocrine development by early exposure to novelty.

Mildly stressful early life experiences can potentially impact a broad range of social, cognitive, and physiological functions in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents. Recent rodent studies favor a maternal-mediation hypothesis that considers maternal-care differences induced by neonatal stimulation as the cause of individual differences in offspring development. Using neonatal novelty exposure, a neonatal stimulation paradigm that dissociates maternal individual differences from a direct stimulation effect on the offspring, we investigated the effect of early exposures to novelty on a diverse range of psychological functions using several assessment paradigms. Pups that received brief neonatal novelty exposures away from the home environment showed enhancement in spatial working memory, social competition, and corticosterone response to surprise during adulthood compared with their home-staying siblings. These functional enhancements in novelty-exposed rats occurred despite evidence that maternal care was directed preferentially toward home-staying instead of novelty-exposed pups, indicating that greater maternal care is neither necessary nor sufficient for these early stimulation-induced functional enhancements. We suggest a unifying maternal-modulation hypothesis, which distinguishes itself from the maternal-mediation hypothesis in that (i) neonatal stimulation can have direct effects on pups, cumulatively leading to long-term improvement in adult offspring; and (ii) maternal behavior can attenuate or potentiate these effects, thereby decreasing or increasing this long-term functional improvement.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Use of perphenazine to control cannibalism in DBA/1 mice.

Maternal administration of perphenazine decreased the incidence of cannibalism in colonies of interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL-4, IL-10, and IL-12) knockout mice of the DBA/1 and C57BL/6 background strains. This colony had high incidence of neonatal death due to cannibalism in approximately 50% of the pups. Perphenazine was administered to the dams in the drinking water, beginning on the day before or the morning of parturition. The medicated water was supplied at two dosages: 0.5 mg/ml and 0.025 mg/ml, resulting in a dosage of 4 mg/kg of body weight and 2 mg/kg, respectively, to the dams. Dams that were treated with perphenazine weaned 76.4% of their pups, compared with nontreated dams that weaned only 59.4% of their pups. Timing of the administration of perphenazine did not have a significant impact on efficacy; also, both doses were equally effective at preventing cannibalism. These findings indicate that perphenazine can modify poor maternal behavior such as cannibalism, resulting in more efficient production of valuable knockout mice.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Nutrition and mental development.

It has been difficult to assess the effects of malnutrition upon mental development because of the environmental alterations that invariably accompany malnutrition, even in animal models. In rats, maternal behavior is altered whenever offspring are malnourished, in part in response to the altered stimulus characteristics of the offspring. It is difficult to assess whether these alterations in environment are detrimental because they are adaptive in promoting the growth of the pups. Environmental stimulation may to some extent reverse the brain effects of malnutrition and can remediate some of the behavioral effects.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The extent of pregnancy mistiming and its association with maternal characteristics and behaviors and pregnancy outcomes.

CONTEXT: The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) classifies pregnancies as intended, mistimed or unwanted. However, these categories could be too broad, as a woman's feelings about a pregnancy, her health behaviors during pregnancy and thus her pregnancy outcomes may vary according to whether her pregnancy is moderately or seriously mistimed. These relationships have not yet been explored. METHODS: Data from the 1995 NSFG were examined to assess associations between pregnancy mistiming and maternal characteristics. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted of the extent of mistiming for each maternal characteristic. Chi-square and F-tests were used to examine the associations between a pregnancy's intendedness--according to a four-category classification--and maternal characteristics, maternal happiness ratings, maternal behaviors and pregnancy outcomes. RESULTS: Fifty-five percent of mistimed pregnancies were mistimed by 24 months or less, 32% were mistimed by 25-60 months and 13% were mistimed by more than 60 months. According to multivariate analyses, pregnancies among younger women, never-married women and black women were mistimed by significantly more months than those among other women. The distribution of moderately mistimed pregnancies differed significantly from those of both seriously mistimed and unwanted pregnancies according to most maternal characteristics; there were few differences between intended and moderately mistimed pregnancies, and between seriously mistimed and unwanted pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS: Mistiming is not a unitary construct. Its extent is associated with maternal characteristics and behaviors. Future research on pregnancy intention should examine the extent of mistiming and consider alternatives to traditional definitions of intendedness.

Adult↗