Brief pup separation during lactation confers resilience in behavioural deficits induced by chronic restraint stress in postpartum C57BL/6J dams.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The postpartum period is a complex time for females that affects health recovery. Stress during this period is one of the main risk factors for depression. Therefore, preventing stress-induced depression in the postpartum period is of great importance. Pup separation (PS) is a natural paradigm of postpartum care; however, the effect of different PS protocols during lactation on stress-induced depressive behaviours in dams is unknown.

Methods

Lactating C57BL/6J mice were subjected to no pup separation (NPS), brief PS (15 min/day, PS15) or long PS (180 min/day, PS180) from postpartum day 1 to postpartum day 21 and were then subjected to chronic restraint stress (CRS) for 21 days. Behavioural tests, specifically the open field test (OFT), elevated plus maze (EPM) tes

SUBMITTER: Zhou L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10185353 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature