Abstract
Nutrition plays a major role in the survival of the progeny, and its perinatal deficiencies delay physical development and interfere with social and cognitive performance later in life. The effects of early undernutrition on maternal social performance of sensitized adult virgin rats were evaluated. Several maternal and non-maternal responses were measured in virgin female Wistar rats randomly divided into two groups, control and early undernourished, during 19 days of chronic daily exposure to fresh foster pups in home-cage conditions. Underfed females (F0) received different percentages of a balanced diet during gestation. After birth, pups were underfed (F1) by alternating every 12 h between litters two lactating dams, one with ligated nipples. Weaning was at 25 days of age followed by an ad lib diet until postpartum day 90, when sensitized virgins were maternally tested daily for seven successive sessions. Significantly (p < 0.05) low body weight scores in UG F1 virgins of five different ages were observed. The UG F1 females expressed significantly (p < 0.05) lower frequency values in sniffing, licking, retrieving, crouching, and handling shavings, with clear prolonged sniffing, retrieving and handling shaving latencies towards the foster pups compared with CG F1 sensitized females. Self-grooming was not affected, whereas exploration was significantly reduced. Current findings suggest that perinatal undernutrition interfered the organization of a core neuronal circuitry underlying the mother-litter interactions involved in social and cognitive performance of sensitized adult virgins. Furthermore, the behavioral maternal alterations in F1 virgins may possibly generate a risky negative social environment to induce cognitive and/or brain disorders in later generations.
Highlights
Several studies have shown that different paradigms of perinatal undernutrition or early malnutrition in the rat result in long-term maternal response deficiencies, which interfere with the physical and functional growth of the young and include significant alterations in nest building, pup licking, kyphotic posture for nursing, and retrieval of the newborn [1]
Thereafter, Undernourished Group (UG) F1 virgins slightly increased food consumption and body weight through a balanced diet from postnatal day (PD) 25 to 90; they were unable to compensate the low body weight provoked by early undernutrition, which was associated with their maternal deficiencies and disrupted bonding interactions with the foster pups [16]
Current data confirmed that undernutrition during gestation and suckling reduced the frequency of most of the F1 virgin female maternal components here obtained triggered by visual, olfactory and somatosensory cues elicited by fresh foster pups, except the inconsistent approach of sensitized UG females to pups compared to Control Group (CG) virgin females, who gradually increased their frequency of approach
Summary
Several studies have shown that different paradigms of perinatal undernutrition or early malnutrition in the rat result in long-term maternal response deficiencies, which interfere with the physical and functional growth of the young and include significant alterations in nest building, pup licking, kyphotic posture for nursing, and retrieval of the newborn [1]. These long-term behavioral alterations may result in interference with the programming of the hypothalamic-hypophysealadrenal axis (HPA), which results in metabolic and defects of activating hormonal targets to trigger adaptive responses including the maternal response [2]. These females do not need to be pregnant or lactating to be maternally motivated [6]
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