Limited bedding nesting paradigm alters maternal behavior and pup's early developmental milestones but did not induce anxiety- or depressive-like behavior in two different inbred mice

Pardo G.V.E.; Alfaro Saca E.E.; Becerra Flores C.T.; Delgado Casós W.F.; Pacheco-Otalora L.F. · Developmental Psychobiology (2023) · DOI: 10.1002/dev.22357

Resumen

Animal models are crucial to understanding the mechanisms underlying the deleterious consequences of early-life stress. Here, we aimed to examine the effect of the limited bedding nesting (LBN) paradigm on early life development milestones and anxiety- and/or depression-like behavior in adolescent and adult mice from two inbred mice of both sexes. C57BL/6NCrl and BALB/c litters were exposed to the LBN paradigm postnatal day (PND) 2–9. Maternal behavior recording occurred on PND 3–9, and pups were weighed daily and examined to verify the eye-opening on PND 10–22. The male and female offspring underwent evaluation in the open field test, elevated plus-maze, and the forced swimming test during adolescence (PND 45–49) and adulthood (PND 75–79). We found that LBN impaired the maternal behavior patterns of both strain dams, mainly on C57BL/6NCrl strain. Also, LBN delayed the pup's eye-opening time and reduced body weight gain, impacting C57BL/6NCrl pups more. We also found that LBN decreased anxiety-related indices in adolescent and adult male but not female mice of both strains. Furthermore, LBN decreased depression-related indices only adolescent female and male BALB/c and female but not male C57BL/6NCrl mice. These findings reinforce the evidence that the LBN paradigm impairs the maternal behavior pattern and pup's early developmental milestones but does not induce anxiety- or depressive-like behavior outcomes during later life.

Instituciones: Universidad Andina del Cusco