"The wrong tools for the right job": a critical meta-analysis of traditional tests to assess behavioural impacts of maternal separation.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Unconditioned tasks in rodents have been the mainstay of behavioural assessment for decades, but their validity and sensitivity to detect the behavioural consequences of early life stress (ELS) remains contentious and highly variable.

Objectives

In the present study, we carried out a meta-analysis to investigate whether persistent behavioural effects, as assessed using unconditioned procedures in rats, are a reliable consequence of early repeated maternal separation, a commonly used procedure in rodents to study ELS.

Methods

A literature search identified 100 studies involving maternally separated rats and the following unconditioned procedures: the elevated plus maze (EPM); open field test (OFT); sucrose preference test (SPT) and forced swim task (FST). Stu

SUBMITTER: Stupart O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10593619 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature