Mouse models of emotional postpartum disorders.

In women the first days postpartum are often associated with the onset of major emotional upheaval. Both the cause and the significance of this emotional vulnerability are largely unexplored. A complex interrelationship of emotional and endocrine factors suggests the possibility of a borderline endocrine/neurotransmitter condition, which can be precipitated to some extent by environmental factors. Increased risks are not limited only to nutritional deficiency, infections, and metabolic disorders, since several surveys have shown that women frequently take psychotherapeutic agents at some time during their pregnancy. In this frame, behavioural analysis in animal models appears to be a valuable and sensitive tool for detecting subtle alterations in CNS function, which can be produced by early exposure to psychotropic agents devoid of major teratogenic potential, be they therapeutic drugs or drugs of abuse. The approach has considerable relevance in view of the fact that all or most of the affected subjects can remain within the limits of normal variation until the time of a particular life event, such as for example, the early postpartum period analyzed here, with its enormous physiological and behavioural changes. The emphasis in behavioural teratology should be on naturally occurring species-typical behaviours that form an integral part of the normal behavioural repertoire. So, the series of studies reviewed here was performed with mice to assess the consequences of acute or prenatal benzodiazepine exposure, with focus on the early postpartum period. The role of the genotype on the sensitivity to an antiepileptic (phenobarbital) drug exposure has also been investigated. The aim was of providing significant information on the nature of changes in the female emotional repertoire, which characterizes this specific life event.