Work

Changes in dam and pup behavior following repeated postnatal exposure to a predator odor (TMT): A preliminary investigation in long‐evans rats

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: The present study investigated whether repeated early postnatal exposure to the predator odor 2,5-dihydro-2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline (TMT) alters behavioral responses to the stimulus later in life, at postnatal day (PN30). Long-Evans rat pups with their mothers were exposed for 20 min daily to TMT, water, or a noxious odor, butyric acid (BTA), during the first three weeks of life. Mothers exposed to TMT displayed more crouching and nursing behavior than those exposed to BTA, and TMT exposed pups emitted more ultrasonic vocalizations than BTA exposed pups. At PN30, rats were tested for freezing to TMT, water, or BTA. Rats exposed to TMT during the postnatal period displayed less freezing to TMT than rats exposed postnatally to water or BTA. Our data indicate that early-life experience with a predator cue has a significant impact on later fear responses to that same cue, highlighting the programming capacity of the postnatal environment on the development of behavior.

Source: Developmental Psychobiology

DOI: 10.1002/dev.21362

Authors: Luke W. Ayers, Arun Asok, Jennifer Blaze, Tania L. Roth, Jeffrey B. Rosen

Institutions: Widener University, University of Delaware

Language: English

Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: Mechanisms of Context Conditioning in the Developing Rat, Renewal of Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research