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Protein malnutrition induced during gestation: Its effect on pup development and maternal behavior
Author(s) -
Massaro Thomas F.,
Levitsky David A.,
Barnes Richard H.
Publication year - 1977
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.420100408
Subject(s) - offspring , lactation , gestation , malnutrition , ontogeny , pregnancy , physiology , maternal deprivation , feeding behavior , endocrinology , psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , biology , zoology , genetics
Repeated time‐lapse photographic observations were used to examine the ontogeny of behavioral development in prenatally malnourished rat pups following birth. Pups born to dams receiving a low protein diet (7% casein by weight) were fostered at birth to well‐nourished dams and behavioral observations were made at 4‐day intervals. Dams nursing gestationally malnourished pups were observed to spend more time in the nesting area with their pups towards the end of lactation. Moreover, the behavioral development (locomotion, feeding, and rearing and climbing activity) of gestationally malnourished offspring was depressed when compared to their controls. The results indicate that prenatal undernutrition alters the behavioral development of the offspring and maternal behavior of the dam in a manner which reduces the exposure of the pup to the immediate environment.