Abstract
Variation in the early environment has the potential to permanently alter offspring behavior and development. We have previously shown that naturally occurring variation in biparental care of offspring in the prairie vole is related to differences in social behavior of the offspring. It was not, however, clear whether the behavioral differences seen between offspring receiving high compared to low amounts of parental care were the result of different care experiences or were due to shared genetics with their high-contact or low-contact parents. Here we use cross-fostering methods to determine the mode of transmission of alloparental behavior and oxytocin receptor (OTR) and vasopressin V1a receptor (V1aR) binding from parent to offspring. Offspring were cross-fostered or in-fostered on postnatal day 1 and parental care received was quantified in the first week postpartum. At weaning, offspring underwent an alloparental care test and brains were then collected from all parents and offspring to examine OTR and V1aR binding. Results indicate that alloparental behavior of offspring was predicted by the parental behavior of their rearing parents. Receptor binding for both OTR and V1aR tended to be predicted by the genetic mothers for female offspring and by the genetic fathers for male offspring. These findings suggest a different, sex-dependent, role of early experience and genetics in shaping behavior compared to receptor distribution and support the notion of sex-dependent outcomes.
Highlights
Alterations in the early life environment of a developing animal can have long-term consequences on behavior
Active maternal care in early life was negatively correlated with V1a receptor (V1aR) binding in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeAmy) in male offspring (r = −0.5889, adjusted p = 0.0404) and tended to be positively correlated with oxytocin receptor (OTR) binding in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in female offspring (r = 0.5687, adjusted p = 0.0864)
There were no significant correlations between behavior in the alloparental care test and OTR or V1aR binding in the CeAmy, BNST, FIGURE 1 | Early parental care
Summary
Alterations in the early life environment of a developing animal can have long-term consequences on behavior. Varied early handling in the prairie vole in the first week of life has consequences on offspring behavior, including sex-dependent. Cross-fostering studies in rats indicate that adult outcomes are transmitted in a non-genomic fashion and that it is the early care that drives later maternal behavior in female offspring of high and low LG dams (Francis et al, 1999; Champagne et al, 2003). Impaired care in mice results in altered behavior in female offspring and that care style is transmitted in a non-genomic fashion (Curley et al, 2008), similar to the rat model
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