TITLE:
Maternal Response of Perinatally Underfed Wistar Virgin Females Exposed to Newborn Rats
AUTHORS:
Manuel Salas, Mirelta Regalado, Carmen Torrero, Minerva Ortiz-Valladares, Lorena Rubio
KEYWORDS:
Early Undernutrition, Maternal Sensitization, Cognitive Development, Rats
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science,
Vol.9 No.3,
March
4,
2019
ABSTRACT: Nutrition plays a major role in the survival of the progeny, and its perinatal deficiencies delay physical development and interfere with social and cognitive performance later in life. The effects of early undernutrition on maternal social performance of sensitized adult virgin rats were evaluated. Several maternal and non-maternal responses were measured in virgin female Wistar rats randomly divided into two groups, control and early undernourished, during 19 days of chronic daily exposure to fresh foster pups in home-cage conditions. Underfed females (F0) received different percentages of a balanced diet during gestation. After birth, pups were underfed (F1) by alternating every 12 h between litters two lactating dams, one with ligated nipples. Weaning was at 25 days of age followed by an ad lib diet until postpartum day 90, when sensitized virgins were maternally tested daily for seven successive sessions. Significantly (p