Prepartum and Postpartum Open-Field Behavior and Maternal Responsiveness in Mice Bidirectionally Selected for Open-Field Thigmotaxis

The authors examined pre- and postpartum open-field (OF) behavior and maternal responsiveness in mice that they bidirectionally selected for OF thigmotaxis. The authors tested 40 female mice under 3 conditions: prepartum OF, postpartum OF, and a pup retrieval test. In both OF conditions, the high OF...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of general psychology 2008-01, Vol.135 (1), p.37-53
Main Authors: Leppänen, Pia K., Ravaja, Niklas, Ewalds-Kvist, S. Béatrice M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal ethology
Animal reproduction
Animals
Anxiety
Arousal - genetics
Biological and medical sciences
Breastfeeding & lactation
Defecation
Eliminative Behavior, Animal
emotionality
Emotions
Exploratory Behavior
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender differences
Grooming
HOFT and LOFT mice
Hypotheses
In Vitro Techniques
Mammalia
Maternal Behavior - psychology
Mice
Mothers
Motor Activity - genetics
open field
Pregnancy
Pregnancy, Animal - genetics
Pregnancy, Animal - psychology
Proprioception - genetics
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
pup retrieval
Reaction Time - genetics
Researchers
Rodents
Selection, Genetic
Selective breeding
Species Specificity
thigmotaxis
Urination
Vertebrata
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Summary:The authors examined pre- and postpartum open-field (OF) behavior and maternal responsiveness in mice that they bidirectionally selected for OF thigmotaxis. The authors tested 40 female mice under 3 conditions: prepartum OF, postpartum OF, and a pup retrieval test. In both OF conditions, the high OF thigmotaxis (HOFT) mice were more thigmotactic but explored and reared less than the low OF thigmotaxis (LOFT) mice, indicating that the HOFT mice were more emotional. In the postpartum condition, the HOFT mothers also defecated more and ambulated less than the LOFT mothers. The increase in grooming after parturition was more conspicuous among the LOFT mothers than among the HOFT mothers. The LOFT mothers were also more attracted to their pups in the OF, but the retrieval test did not show any substantial line differences. The results suggested that the line difference in emotionality was more pronounced during lactation than during pregnancy, although parturition exerted no effect on thigmotaxis.
ISSN:0022-1309
1940-0888
1940-0888
DOI:10.3200/GENP.135.1.37-53