Neonatal maternal separation and early life programming of the hypoxic ventilatory response in rats

The neonatal period is critical for central nervous system (CNS) development. Recent studies have shown that this basic neurobiological principle also applies to the neural circuits regulating respiratory activity as exposure to excessive or insufficient chemosensory stimuli during early life can have long-lasting consequences on the performance of this vital system. Although the tactile, olfactory, and auditory stimuli that the mother provides to her offspring during the neonatal period are not directly relevant to respiratory homeostasis, they likely contribute to respiratory control development. This review outlines the rationale for the link between maternal stimuli and programming of the hypoxic ventilatory response during early life, and presents recent results obtained in rats indicating that experimental disruption of mother-pup interaction during this critical period elicits significant phenotypic plasticity of the hypoxic ventilatory response.