Parent Carine I, Meaney Michael J
Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, McGill University, Douglas Mental Health University Institute 6875 LaSalle Blvd, Montréal, Québec, Canada H4H1R3.
Dev Psychobiol. 2008 Dec;50(8):767-76. doi: 10.1002/dev.20342.
Naturally occurring variations in maternal care in the rat influence the sensitivity of offspring to stress in adulthood. The offspring of mothers that show lower levels of pup licking/grooming (i.e., low-LG mothers) demonstrate enhanced responses to stress and increased anxiety compared to those of high-LG mothers. Low-LG offspring are also more sensitive to the influence of environmental enrichment than high-LG offspring. This study examined play fighting in the juvenile offspring of high-LG and low-LG dams in a multiple-play partners housing environment. Male offspring from low-LG dams demonstrated a significantly higher frequency of pouncing, pinning and aggressive social grooming than did high-LG males and high-LG and low-LG females. Consistent with earlier reports, male pups engaged in more play fighting than did females and maternal care was associated with differences in play fighting but only in males. Lower levels of stimulation in the form of LG from the dam during perinatal development may thus increase sensitivity for the stimulating effects of play behavior in periadolescence, in part explaining the increased solicitation of play fighting through increased pouncing in the male offspring of the low-LG mothers. These findings identify a possible influence of variations in maternal care on play fighting and suggest that maternal care in the perinatal period influence social interactions during periadolescence.
大鼠母体护理中自然出现的差异会影响成年后代对压力的敏感性。与高舔舐/梳理母鼠（即高LG母鼠）的后代相比，舔舐/梳理幼崽水平较低的母鼠（即低LG母鼠）的后代对压力的反应增强，焦虑增加。低LG后代也比高LG后代对环境丰富化的影响更敏感。本研究在多玩伴饲养环境中，对高LG和低LG母鼠的幼年后代的嬉戏打斗行为进行了研究。低LG母鼠的雄性后代在突袭、压制和攻击性社交梳理方面的频率显著高于高LG雄性后代以及高LG和低LG雌性后代。与早期报告一致，雄性幼崽比雌性幼崽参与更多的嬉戏打斗，并且母体护理与嬉戏打斗的差异有关，但仅在雄性中如此。因此，围产期发育期间来自母鼠的低水平LG刺激可能会增加青春期对嬉戏行为刺激作用的敏感性，部分解释了低LG母鼠雄性后代通过增加突袭行为而增加对嬉戏打斗的寻求。这些发现确定了母体护理差异对嬉戏打斗的可能影响，并表明围产期的母体护理会影响青春期的社交互动。
