Abstract
Connections between maternal behavior and childhood depression were examined by using a "genetic animal model"; Flinder Sensitive Line - (FSL) rats, and cross-fostering the offspring with the control strain, Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The control procedure was "in-fostering", where the foster dam and her pups were from the same strain. Contribution of pups' characteristics/genotype to maternal behavior was examined. After weaning, we measured male offspring's body weight, immobility in the swim test, and basal corticosterone (CORT) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) levels at the prepubertal age of 35 days. While maternal behavior (of "depressive-like" dams and their controls) was not altered significantly by the pups' strain, the adoption procedure per se appeared to have more adverse effects on "depressive-like" symptoms of the SD prepubertal rats than on the FSL pups. Nevertheless, the combination between abnormal maternal behavior and genetic predisposition affected the hormonal stress responses of the offspring in a more severe manner than genetic predisposition or abnormal maternal behavior per se.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2008 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank Prof. Aron Weller and Dr. Gal Yadid from the Gonda (Goldschmied) Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, for their generous help in this study. The authors also thank Shai Nisenbaum and Orly Gross for help in performing the maternal behavior experiments. The research reported in this paper was completed as part of the first author's Ph.D. dissertation (OM in the Interdisciplinary Program in the Brain Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel). OM and YLA were supported by a President's fellowship, Bar-Ilan University.
Funding
The authors thank Prof. Aron Weller and Dr. Gal Yadid from the Gonda (Goldschmied) Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, for their generous help in this study. The authors also thank Shai Nisenbaum and Orly Gross for help in performing the maternal behavior experiments. The research reported in this paper was completed as part of the first author's Ph.D. dissertation (OM in the Interdisciplinary Program in the Brain Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel). OM and YLA were supported by a President's fellowship, Bar-Ilan University.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Bar-Ilan University |
Keywords
- Animal models
- Childhood depression
- Cross-fostering
- HPA axis
- Maternal behavior
- Swim test