Brief and long maternal separation in C57Bl6J mice: behavioral consequences for the dam and the offspring.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Animal models, especially rodents, have become instrumental to experimentally investigate the effects of an adverse post-natal environment on the developing brain. For this purpose, maternal separation (MS) paradigms have been widely used in the last decades. Nonetheless, how MS affects maternal behavior and, ultimately, the offspring depend on multiple variables.

Methods

To gain further insights into the consequences of MS, we decided to thoroughly measure and compare the effects of short (15 min, 3 times/day) vs. long (3 h, 1 time/day) separation on multiple maternally-associated behaviors and across the entire post-natal period.

Results

Compared to unhandled control litters, our results confirmed previous studies and indicated that SMS enhanced the tim

SUBMITTER: Rombaut C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10626007 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature