Neonatal whisker trimming in WAG/Rij rat pups causes developmental delay, encourages maternal care and affects exploratory activity in adulthood.

Neonatal whisker trimming in WAG/Rij rat pups causes developmental delay, encourages maternal care and affects exploratory activity in adulthood. Brain Res Bull. 2018 Apr 20;: Authors: Smirnov K, Tsvetaeva D, Sitnikova E Abstract WAG/Rij rats are genetically predisposed to absence epilepsy. Maternal behavior in WAG/Rij female rats is known to differ from that in non-epileptic females. We hypothesize that (1) mother's behavior may be changed as response to changes in pup's conditions; (2) sensory deprivation at the neonatal age affect learning and behavior in adulthood. All whiskers in WAG/Rij rat pups were trimmed daily during PN1-PN8. Maternal behavior was examined during the same period. It was found that in the control group, WAG/Rij females often demonstrated abnormally long (>1 min) repetitive purposeless stereotypical actions that were roughly classified as compulsive-like behavior. Mothers of the trimmed pups showed less compulsive-like behavior and more intensively interacted with pups and built better nests. Rat pups in the trimmed group had lower body weight on PN7-PN19 as compared to the control. In the trimmed group, maturation of motor skills and early behavioral patterns (i.e. walking, grooming, vertical activity, motor functions of forelimbs) showed 1-2 days delay in comparison to the control. At the age of 2-2.5 months, the locomotor activity in the trimmed rats differed from the control, but the level of anxie...
Source: Brain Research Bulletin - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Res Bull Source Type: research