Behavioural and Neurochemical Consequences of Early Weaning in Rodents

Among all mammalian species, pups are highly dependent on their mother not only for nutrition, but also for physical interaction. Therefore, disruption of the mother–pup interaction changes the physiology and behaviour of pups. We review how maternal separation in the early developmental period brings about changes in the behaviour and neuronal systems of the offspring of rats and mice. Early weaning in mice results in adulthood a persistent increase in anxiety‐like and aggressive behaviour. The early‐weaned mice also show higher hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal activity in response to novelty stress. Neurochemically, the early‐weaned male mice, but not female mice, show precocious myelination in the amygdala, decreased brain‐derived neurotrophic factor protein levels in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, and reduced bromodeoxyuridine immunoreactivity in the dentate gyrus. Because higher corticosterone levels are persistently observed up to 48 h when the mice are weaned on postnatal day 14, the exposure of the developing brain to higher corticosterone levels may be one of the effects of early weaning. These results suggest that deprivation of the mother–infant interaction during the late lactating period results in behavioural and neurochemical changes in adulthood and that these stress responses are sexually dimorphic (i.e. the male is more vulnerable to early weaning stress).