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Natural variation in maternal care shapes adult social behavior in rats
Author(s) -
StarrPhillips Emily J.,
Beery Annaliese K.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21182
Subject(s) - offspring , licking , psychology , anxiety , developmental psychology , oxytocin , social relation , social behavior , paternal care , pregnancy , endocrinology , social psychology , medicine , biology , psychiatry , neuroscience , genetics
Features of the early postnatal environment profoundly shape later physical and behavioral phenotypes. The amount of licking/grooming that rat dams direct towards their offspring has durable consequences, including behavioral and physiological dimensions of stress reactivity, cognition, and reproductive behavior. We examined how natural variation in maternal care alters social behavior in adult offspring and how this relates to anxiety behavior and oxytocin receptor density. Male and female offspring of mothers who received high levels of licking spent significantly more time in social contact with unfamiliar individuals than did offspring whose dams provided less grooming. Reduced anxiety behavior was associated with greater social interaction. No differences in oxytocin receptor binding assessed by 125 I‐OVTA autoradiography were detected between groups. The present investigation characterizes a novel impact of maternal care on adult social interaction behavior, replicates anxiety behavior differences, and illustrates connections between social behavior and anxiety in adulthood across maternal treatment groups. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 56: 1017–1026, 2014.