Journal
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
Volume 32, Issue 1, Pages 65-71Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2006.10.004
Keywords
maternal depression; learned helplessness; handling effects; maternal separation
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Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [K01 MH066217, R01 MH061995, MH066217, MH61995] Funding Source: Medline
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Long maternal (LMS) versus brief maternal (BMS) daily separations of rat pups from their mothers have contrasting effects on their adult stress responses and maternal behavior by, respectively, decreasing and increasing licking received from their mothers. We hypothesized that LMS decreases pup-licking in mothers by inducing learned helplessness, creating a depression-like state. We subjected postpartum rats to LMS (3 h), BMS (15 min) or no separation (NMS) on postpartum days 2-14. After weaning, mothers were given a forced swim test (FST). LMS mothers exhibited more immobility and fewer escape attempts than BMS or NMS mothers. These results suggest that LMS induces a depression-like state, which may account for the reductions in maternal behavior seen in LMS mothers. Immobility in the FST is recognized as an animal model of depression. Therefore, LMS may be a model of maternal depression. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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