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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
Postpartum scarcity-adversity disrupts maternal behavior without altering anxiety-like behavior or cognition
Erin Lauraine1, Millie Rincón-Cortés1
1Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, United States.
Behavioural Brain Research
|July 15, 2026
Summary
Postpartum resource scarcity increased adverse maternal behaviors in rats. However, this adversity did not affect anxiety-like behavior or cognitive functions in the dams.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Biology
- Reproductive Science
Background:
- Postpartum resource scarcity can negatively impact maternal caregiving.
- The specific behavioral and cognitive effects of such adversity on mothers are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of postpartum resource scarcity on maternal behavior, anxiety-like behavior, and cognitive function in rats.
- To determine if adversity-induced changes in maternal behavior are linked to generalized anxiety or cognitive deficits.
Main Methods:
- Rats were exposed to a scarcity-adversity paradigm from postpartum days 2-9.
- Maternal behavior, anxiety-like behavior (elevated zero maze, open field test), and cognitive performance (spontaneous alternation task, novel object recognition) were assessed.
Main Results:
- Rats exposed to scarcity-adversity displayed increased insensitive pup-directed behaviors.
- No significant differences were found in anxiety-like behavior or spatial working memory between scarcity-adversity and control groups.
- Cognitive performance in novel object recognition memory also showed no between-group differences.
Conclusions:
- Postpartum scarcity-adversity specifically increases adverse pup-directed behaviors in rats.
- These behavioral changes occur without broad alterations in anxiety-like behavior or cognitive function.
- Adverse maternal caregiving is not explained by generalized affective or cognitive dysregulation following postpartum adversity.
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