Social stress during pregnancy and lactation affects in guinea pigs the male offsprings' endocrine status and infantilizes their behaviour.

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of the social environment during pregnancy and lactation on the male offsprings' endocrine parameters and behaviour in guinea pigs. The subjects studied were sons whose mothers had either lived in a stable social environment during pregnancy and lactation or in an unstable social environment during this period of life. The stable social environment was made by keeping the group composition (one male, five females) constant; in the unstable social environment situation every third day, two females from different groups were exchanged. After weaning, seven groups of sons, whose mothers had lived in an unstable social environment and seven groups of sons, whose mothers had lived in a stable social environment, consisting of two males each, were established. From their 20th through their 100th day of age the spontaneous behaviour of the males was recorded in their home cages. On the endocrine level, cortisol- and testosterone-concentrations in serum as well as adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase activities were determined. Sons, whose mothers had lived in an unstable social environment, showed significantly higher amounts of resting with bodily contact than sons, whose mothers had lived in a stable social environment. Additionally, they displayed this behaviour to an older age than the latter sons. Further on, sons, whose mothers had lived in an unstable social environment, displayed significantly higher frequencies of courtship behaviour than sons, whose mothers had lived in a stable social environment, which was integrated into play behaviour. These behavioural data point to an infantilization of sons, whose mothers had lived in an unstable social environment. The behavioural patterns corresponded with a delayed development of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical-axis and a lower activity of the sympathetic-adrenomedullary-system compared to sons whose mothers had lived in a stable social environment. Testosterone did not differ between both categories of males. Thus, the instability of the social environment during pregnancy and lactation had distinct and not yet described effects on the behaviour and endocrine system of the male offspring.