Abstract
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.
Highlights
Perinatal undernutrition may change different anatomical, neurochemical, physiological, pharmacological, developmental and behavioral parameters [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
The maternal behavior of dams was assessed by the standard procedure
Mothers were subjected to a single retrieval test using the procedure described for experiment 1
Summary
Perinatal undernutrition may change different anatomical, neurochemical, physiological, pharmacological, developmental and behavioral parameters [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Other studies have indicated that the changes in maternal behavior cause either beneficial effects [15] or no effect on the later behavior of offspring [16,17]. Most of the studies which evaluate the pup retrieval behavior of undernourished dams (caused by food restriction or by feeding dams a low protein diet) showed a decrease in the efficiency of pup retrieval behavior as a function of days of testing (11,12,19,2123). In a more detailed second study, Wiener et al [12] reported that dams maintained on a low protein diet retrieved less than wellnourished dams after some retrieval tests, but during periods not associated with the tests, malnourished dams spent more time with their pups. Several other literature reports demonstrated that malnourished dams spend more time with litters when observations are made in the home cage with little disturbance of dam behavior [4,12,13,17,20]
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Schedule a callMore From: Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas
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