Early Maternal Separation Research Articles

Premature maternal separation and lymphocyte function

Premature separation of rat pups from their mothers, on postnatal Day 15, produced a decreased response of peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohemagglutnin (PHA) at 40 days of age. A significant lymphopenia was also found in the early weaned animals at 40 days of age although this was accounted for statistically by their lower body weight. These consequences of early maternal separation may have been mediated through the effects of early separation on nutritional state, hypothalamic function, or maturation of the immune system.

The PI 500: Long-Term Follow-up of Borderline Inpatients Meeting DSM-III Criteria I. Global Outcome

The PI 500: Long-Term Follow-up of Borderline Inpatients Meeting DSM-III Criteria I. Global Outcome

The Relationship of Early Maternal Separation to Borderline Personality in Children and Adolescents: A Pilot Study

The author compared 14 child and adolescent borderline patients, diagnosed by the criteria of Gunderson and Singer (1), with a control population for history of separation from the mother or significant caretaker before age 10. The borderline patients experienced a statistically greater number of separations than the psychotic controls, the nonpsychotic psychiatric controls, and the nonpsychiatrically-referred delinquent controls before age 5 but not between ages 5 and 10. The author concludes that the study provides statistical support for the theoretic role of disruption of the early infant-mother bond in borderline pathology.

Predisposition to Gastric Erosions in the Rat: Behavioral and Nutritional Effects of Early Maternal Separation

After early maternal deprivation (on postnatal day 15), the incidence of restraint-induced gastric erosions on day 30 increases to approximately 5 times that of rats separated at the customary (day 21) weaning age. These data suggest that factors in the mother-infant relationship during postnatal development in young rats can influence later susceptibility or resistance to gastric erosions. We present a series of experiments to test whether loss of behavioral interaction with the mother or loss of maternal milk results in this increase in gastric erosion susceptibility. The results show that the absence of maternal milk, rather than behavioral deprivation, is primarily responsible for the increase in susceptibility after early maternal separation. However, behavioral interaction with the mother can additionally modify this susceptibility.

Early maternal separation increases gastric ulcer risk in rats by producing a latent thermoregulatory disturbance.

Rat pups that are separated early from their mothers, at postnatal day 15, become hypothermic when subjected to physical restraint on postnatal day 30. Restraint of separated pups also elicits an unusually high incidence of gastric erosions, as well as insomnia and an increase in quiet wakefulness. If hypothermia during restraint is prevented, neither the erosions nor the behavioral responses occur. Rat pups separated at the customary age (postnatal day 22) do not become hypothermic during restraint, and the restraint of such pups is not associated with either gastric erosion or insomnia.

Survival and recovery of physiologic functions after early maternal separation in rats

Fourteen-day-old rats separated from their mothers have greatly increased survival rates, if provided with a local heat source. Body weight, temperature, cardiac and respiratory rates declined for 3 days in all separated animals, and eye opening was delayed most in those separated at room temperature. In survivors, a second phase followed in which all measures rebounded to levels characteristic of normally mothered infants. Cardiac rate, having fallen 40 percent in the first days after separation, rose to levels higher than normally mothered infants at 21 and 30 days of age. Recovery was not clearly initiated by any single system studied, although non-survivors showed greater weight and temperature loss and evidence of gross motor deficit during the separation response phase.

Survival and recovery of physiologic functions after early maternal separation in rats.

Fourteen-day-old rats separated from their mothers have greatly increased survival rates, if provided with a local heat source. Body weight, temperature, cardiac and respiratory rates declined for 3 days in all separated animals, and eye opening was delayed most in those separated at room temperature. In survivors, a second phase followed in which all measures rebounded to levels characteristic of normally mothered infants. Cardiac rate, having fallen 40 percent in the first days after separation, rose to levels higher than normally mothered infants at 21 and 30 days of age. Recovery was not clearly initiated by any singly system studied, although non-survivors showed greater weight and temperature loss and evidence of gross motor deficit during the separation response phase.

Studies on how early maternal separation produces behavioral change in young rats.

Previously published studies point to the behavioral interaction between the mother and her litter as the origin of the processes responsible for the behavioral hyperactivity following maternal separation in 2-week-old rats. The following experiments explore (1) the time course over which behavioral hyperactivity develops, (2) environmental and social determinants, (3) the role of sensory stimulation in the regulation of behavior and (4) the olfactory sensory system as a mediator of separation effects. The hypotheses supported best by the data are (1) that tactile and olfactory stimulation repeatedly provided by the mother act to reduce levels of behavioral arousal of the infants and (2) that maternal separation exerts its effect by withdrawal of this regulating influence, allowing a new level of behavioral arousal, more intrinsic to the infant, to be revealed.

Physiological mechanisms for cardiac control by nutritional intake after early maternal separation in the young rat.

Series of analytic experiments are presented that explore possible physiological mechanisms for the control of cardiac rate by nutritional intake in the pre-weanling rat. The essential properties of the nutrient and the first site of action were studied by using fluids of different pH, osmolality and chemical composition administered intravenously as well as intragastrically. Several probable effector pathways were explored: neuroendocrine (adrenal medullary and adrenocortical, thyroid), cholinergic and adrenergic. Pharmacological blocking agents, surgical removal of glands, replacement hormones and spinal cord trasaction were utilized. Afferent pathways such as vagus and splanchnic systems were approached surgically and the gastrointestinal hormones, histamine, insulin and glucagon, were studied by administration and pharmacological blockade. The evidence tended to rule out a number of possible mechanisms and pathways and to make it appear likely that nutrient acts initially at the gut wall, that the CNS then responds by increasing tone in the classical spinal cardioacceleratory pathways to the beta-adrenergic synapses of myocardium.

Defining borderline patients: an overview.

This review of the descriptive literature on borderline patients indicates that accounts of such patients vary depending upon who is describing them, in what context, how the samples are selected, and what data are collected. The authors identify six features that provide a rational means for diagnosing borderline patients during an initial interview: the presence of intense affect, usually depressive or hostile; a history of impulsive behavior; a certain social adaptiveness; brief psychotic experiences; loose thinking in unstructured situations; and relationships that vacillate between transient superficiality and intense dependency. Reliable identification of these patients will permit better treatment planning and clinical research.

The role of nutrition in the physiological and behavioral effects of early maternal separation on infant rats.

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Early maternal separation and the response to Ehrlich carcinoma in BALB/c mice.

Early maternal separation and the response to Ehrlich carcinoma in BALB/c mice.