QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (62) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Barbazanges, A. Articles by Maccari, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Barbazanges, A. Articles by Maccari, S.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Volume 16, Number 23, Issue of December 1, 1996 pp. 7783-7790
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience

Early and Later Adoptions Have Different Long-Term Effects on Male Rat Offspring

Received May 7, 1996; revised Aug. 19, 1996; accepted Sept. 18, 1996.

Arnaud Barbazanges, Monique Vallée, Willy Mayo, Jamie Day, Hervé Simon, Michel Le Moal, and Stefania Maccari

Psychobiologie des Comportements Adaptatifs, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U. 259, Université de Bordeaux II, 33077 Bordeaux, France

Both prenatal and postnatal environmental factors exert complex influences on the development of an organism. Previous studies have demonstrated that intervening events during the prenatal period can have different and even opposite effects than similar intervening events occurring in the postnatal period. We have reported previously that early postnatal adoption prevents prenatal stress-induced long-term impairments in glucocorticoid feedback. To characterize further the effects of adoptions during the postnatal period, adoptions have been performed at different times, and the effect on the postnatal ontogeny of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis has been investigated. Adoptions were performed during the first hour after birth (A1) and on the fifth (A5) and twelfth (A12) days after birth. At each of these times, other litters (S1, S5, S12) underwent a "separation" controlling for the 1 min maternal separation necessary for the adoptions. Locomotor behavior, cognition, and stress-induced corticosterone secretion in the adult male offspring have been examined, along with maternal behavior. Early adoption (A1) was found to prevent the prolonged stress-induced secretion of corticosterone evident in early separated (S1) offspring. Similarly, A1 rats demonstrated lower novelty-induced locomotion and improved recognition performance in a Y-maze compared to S1 offspring. However, later adoption (A5, A12) prolonged stress-induced corticosterone secretion, increased the locomotor response to novelty, and disrupted cognitive performance in the offspring. Only the early adoption increased maternal licking behavior, a factor that may have a protective effect on the pups. Taken together, these results suggest that the same postnatal manipulation realized at different times can induce different, or even opposite, effects on the behavioral and neuroendocrine characteristics of the adult offspring.

Key words: adoption; stress-induced corticosterone secretion; locomotor activity; recognition memory; spatial learning; maternal behavior; critical period

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Kaufman, B.-Z. Yang, H. Douglas-Palumberi, S. Houshyar, D. Lipschitz, J. H. Krystal, and J. Gelernter Social supports and serotonin transporter gene moderate depression in maltreated children PNAS, December 7, 2004; 101(49): 17316 - 17321. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Dugovic, S. Maccari, L. Weibel, F. W. Turek, and a. O. Van Reeth High Corticosterone Levels in Prenatally Stressed Rats Predict Persistent Paradoxical Sleep Alterations J. Neurosci., October 1, 1999; 19(19): 8656 - 8664. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Caldji, B. Tannenbaum, S. Sharma, D. Francis, P. M. Plotsky, and M. J. Meaney Maternal care during infancy regulates the development of neural systems mediating the expression of fearfulness in the rat PNAS, April 28, 1998; 95(9): 5335 - 5340. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help