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Exposure to common anesthetic agents alters pup-retrieval response in lactating rats

Yutaka Yamamuro1

  • 1Department of Animal Science, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Kanagawa, Japan.

Experimental Animals
|August 12, 2005
PubMed

This study investigated the lactating stage of rats to determine the effect on maternal behavior of a single exposure to general anesthetic. Lactating Wistar rats were treated with anesthetic doses of pentobarbital (PENT) or ketamine (KET) on day 3 or 9 of lactation, and their behavioral responses were evaluated during a 50-min nursing period, after a 4-h mother-pup separation, on day 12. Exposure to KET on day 9 led to a significantly longer latency to pup-retrieval than that of the control. Duration of pup-retrieval in mothers treated with KET on day 3 and 9 was significantly longer than in the control. Other components of maternal behavior did not differ between the groups. The present findings suggested that general anesthetics have an impact upon pup-retrieval activities, which indirectly represent maternal motivation.

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