Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Paula Thomas | Email: paulathomas073@gmail.com
Paula Thomas1°, Monserrat Rodríguez González1°, Bruno G. Berardino1°, Mariela Chertoff1°, Eduardo T. Cánepa1°
1° Laboratorio de Neuroepigenética y Adversidades Tempranas, Departamento Química Biológica e IQUIBICEN, FCEyN, UBA-CONICET
Maternal stress during pregnancy can affect offspring through the quality of care provided postnatally. In this work we evaluated whether comforting actions towards a stressed pregnant mouse improves postnatal care of her offspring.
From GD1 to GD12 pregnant mice were exposed once per day to one of 4 stressors at random. From GD13 until birth, mice were housed with a previously known female called support (ESA group) or unaccompanied (ES group). A third pregnant group was housed under the same conditions but not exposed to stress (CTA group).
Prior to mating no significant differences were observed in a variety of social behaviors between dam and support in ESA and CTA groups. However, during pregnancy, the ESA dyads dispensed a greater amount of allogrooming and sniffing activities than CTA, suggesting prosocial behavior triggered by perceived distress. Nurturing behaviors were evaluated from PD1 to PD6. Our results show that ES dams provided lower quality and quantity of maternal care compared to their counterparts in the ESA and CTA groups. No differences were observed in arched-back nursing and licking/grooming on pups between ESA and CTA dams suggesting that social support improved caregiving behavior towards the offspring. Changes in OxtR expression assessed in PFC and amygdala could underly the prosocial behavior observed.
Thus, social supportive behaviors can mitigate negative effects of stress during pregnancy that can affect healthy development of offspring.