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PubMed1982

The contribution of ambient temperature to suckling behavior in rats 3-20 days of age.

To assess the role of ambient temperature on the expression of adultlike control over suckling behavior of infant rats, preweanling pups were tested for nipple attachment and milk intake while suckling in either room temperature (25 degrees C) or nest temperature (34 degrees C). In one experiment, attachment latency was measured following 1, 4, or 24 hr of deprivation at 3, 6, 9, 12, or 15 days of age. Latency was generally reduced by testing in high ambient temperature. Increasing deprivation reduced latency at all ages. Elevated temperature, however, did not accentuate deprivation-dependent differences. In a 2nd experiment, milk intake via a posterior tongue cannula was measured in pups 5, 10, 15, or 20 days of age, suckling at either room or nest temperature. Environmental temperature did not significantly affect intake at any age. These data eliminate ambient temperature as a critical factor for adultlike control of suckling behavior in infant rats.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nipple attachment behavior in rat pups exposed to alcohol in utero.

Two experiments were conducted to further characterize impaired nipple attachment behavior in 5-day-old rat pups exposed to alcohol prenatally. In Experiment 1, animals were given two different nipple attachment tests. In the pups-on-mother test, which required animals to first locate a nipple, alcohol-exposed pups displayed longer attachment latencies than controls. Furthermore, more than 50% of these pups failed to attach during testing. In the pups-on-nipple test, in which no search for the nipple was necessary, prenatal alcohol did not reliably affect attachment. To assess the extent to which alcohol-exposed pups utilize an olfactory cue for attachment, in Experiment 2, nipple attachment was observed using the pups-on-nipple test before and after olfactory cue removal. Similar to controls, the alcohol-exposed animals only attached to the normally scented nipples. Therefore, prenatal alcohol exposure impaired nipple search performance in young rats, but not attachment once at the nipple. Moreover, these pups performed like controls in response to olfactory cue manipulation. Possible mechanisms for the poor search behavior are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Manipulation of the dopamine system affects fetal and neonatal responses to an artificial nipple.

Rat fetuses respond to stimuli that they will encounter later while suckling. When exposed to an artificial nipple (AN) E21 fetuses show overall behavioral activation, mouthing, facial wiping, and oral grasping of the AN. The present experiments examined fetal and neonatal responses to the AN after central nervous system injection of receptor-binding drugs for the dopamine system. The D2 agonist drug quinpirole increased appetitive responses to the AN in the fetus and neonate. Activity at the D2 dopamine receptor promotes expression of fetal behavioral responses that are similar to those shown by the neonatal rat at the nipple. Motor responses also were elicited in neonatal pups that normally do not attach to the artificial nipple. These findings suggest that the dopamine system may regulate oral capture of the nipple in the neonatal rat.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Repetitive exposures to a surrogate nipple providing nutritive and non-nutritive fluids: effects on suckling behavior of the newborn rat.

Responsiveness to a surrogate nipple providing water, 0.1% saccharin, 10% sucrose, pedialyte, or milk was tested in naïve-to-suckling newborn rats during six 10-min exposures, one every 1.5 h over a 7.5 h period. Across a succession of exposures, newborn rats repeatedly attached to and ingested milk from a surrogate nipple, yielding significant body weight gain and increased concentration of blood plasma glucose. Initially, pups ingested considerable amounts of saccharin and sucrose, but then dramatically decreased their consumption of these fluids across the experimental sessions. Intake of milk was significantly higher than that of all other substances. Blood glucose concentration in pups treated with water, saccharin, sucrose, and pedialyte did not differ significantly from that of non-treated pups. The present data suggest a potential contribution of a fluid's palatability and nutritive value in the persistence and efficacy of diet intake for neonatal rats in the context of suckling behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Mapping of brain networks involved in consolidation of lamb recognition memory.

In sheep, ewes at parturition are responsive to any newborn lamb, but within less than 1 h, mothers learn to recognize the odor of their lamb and restrict maternal care to their own offspring (maternal selectivity). In a first experiment, we investigated the long-term retention of maternal selectivity after various mother-young contact and separation durations. After 4 h of contact, 36 h of separation leads to a total loss of selectivity. Increasing contact duration to 7 days prior to this separation maintains selectivity. These data suggest that lamb memory after going through an initial labile state after parturition, is consolidated over time into a more stable long-term memory. Fos immunohistochemistry reveals that reintroduction of the lamb after 4 h of mother-young contact and 3 h of separation activates different maternal brain regions than reintroduction of the lamb after 7 days of mother-young contact and 3 h of separation. While the piriform cortex shows an enhanced activation at both times, a selective enhancement of activation is observed in the frontal medial and orbitofrontal cortices only after 7 days of mother-young contact. These data suggest that as consolidation occurs, the neurobiological networks sustaining lamb memory involve different structures.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

What we know and don't know about the development of independent ingestion in rats.

Because suckling behavior differs in many ways from later ingestive behavior, the development of feeding and drinking in rats is best studied apart from the normal suckling situation. Newborn rat pups, separated from their mothers, will actively ingest diet infused into their mouths or spread on the floor beneath them. Such "independent" ingestion resembles the ingestive behavior of adult animals, but it also undergoes developmental changes in organization and control during the pre- and post-weaning periods: When young, deprived pups are fed, they show generalized, non-directed behavioral excitement; but with increasing age, this generalized responding matures into directed and focused ingestive activity. Early independent ingestion depends on a warm test environment; but with development, other familiar environmental and social cues come to influence responding. The internal controls of ingestion also change. Only gastric distension and hydrational status seem to be involved in controlling intake volume during early ingestion, with other ingestive controls emerging later in development. Thus ingestion, independent of suckling from the mother, is a system undergoing revealing developmental changes. These changes offer opportunities for studying ingestion, its controls, and its neural basis at its simplest organizational stage in the newborn, and at higher levels of complexity as maturation adds new components to the feeding system.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Occurrence of oxygen desaturation events during preterm infant bottle feeding near discharge.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence, severity, pattern, and moderators of oxygen desaturation during preterm infant bottle feeding near the time of discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) when fed by mothers. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-two very low birthweight (VLBW) infants [birthweight 1155+/-293 g, gestational age (GA) 28.1+/-2.0, postconceptional age (PCA) 36.5+/-1.6 weeks] were videotaped being bottle-fed by their mothers. Most infants (86%) were discharged within 6 days of the study. Oxygen saturation was continuously monitored and infant feeding behaviors were coded. Oxygen desaturation events (SpO(2)<90%) were identified and analyzed. RESULTS: Infants averaged 10.8 events during feeding (range 1-28, S.D. 8.9) and spent, on average, 20% of their feeding time (range 0-70%, S.D. 17.98%) with oxygen levels below 90%. One hundred forty of the desaturation events (59%) were classified as mild (SpO(2) 85-89), 47 events (20%) were classified as moderate (SpO(2) 81-84), and 51 events (21%) were classified as severe (SpO(2)</=80). Events were evenly distributed across infants' feeding time. Receiving supplemental oxygen, beginning the feeding with a higher baseline SpO(2), and being of older PCA predicted lower percentage of feeding time with SpO(2) below 90% (R(2)=0.57). Receiving supplemental oxygen and beginning the feeding with a higher baseline SpO(2) predicted less number of desaturation events during the feeding (R(2)=0.44). Despite similar baseline SpO(2) levels, infants who were on supplemental oxygen had 50% less oxygen desaturation events and spent 33% less time with SpO(2) less than 90%. CONCLUSION: VLBW infants continue to have desaturation events during feeding when fed by their mothers near the time of discharge. Further research is needed to understand the effect of hypoxemia on the preterm infant's development of oral feeding skills, to study the effects of supplemental oxygen during feeding, and to further develop interventions to minimize desaturation during feeding.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Fetal experience with milk or an artificial nipple alters appetitive and aversive responses to perioral cutaneous stimuli.

Fetal rats exhibit oral grasping of an artificial nipple. The authors examined interactive effects of sensory stimuli normally encountered in the suckling environment on subsequent responses to the nipple. Embryonic Day 20 rat fetuses received an infusion of milk, lemon, or saline through a hollow artificial nipple or an intraoral cannula (producing no nipple stimulation). One minute after sensory pretreatment, behavioral responses of fetuses to an artificial nipple were recorded on videotape for frame-by-frame analysis. Preexposure to the artificial nipple decreased the number of oral grasps and facial wipes directed toward the artificial nipple but increased the duration of grasp responses. Milk uniformly reduced fetal responsiveness to the nipple. Furthermore, the artificial nipple enhanced fetal responses to perioral cutaneous stimulation, whereas milk suppressed perioral responsiveness. These data suggest that the perinatal rat's 1st experience with milk or the nipple can alter subsequent responses to suckling stimuli.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

First suckling response of the newborn albino rat: the roles of olfaction and amniotic fluid.

Washing the nipples of anesthetized parturient rats virtually eliminated nipple attachment by their young. Normal attachment was induced only by painting the washed nipples with a distillate of the nipple wash, parturient-mother saliva, or her amniotic fluids. Reinstatement was not achieved by coating the washed nipples with the saliva of virgin females eating the same diet, the parturient mother's urine, isotonic saline, amyl acetate, or vanilla extract. These experiments also provide behavioral evidence for olfactory function in the newborn albino rat.

Amniotic Fluid↗
PubMed1997

Perinatal methanol exposure in the rat. II. Behavioral effects in neonates and adults.

The use of methanol as a component of automobile fuel will increase perinatal exposures in the general population. Few studies have addressed questions concerning neurotoxicity stemming from such exposures. In the current study, four cohorts of pregnant Long-Evans rats, each cohort consisting of an exposure and a control group, were exposed to 4500 ppm methanol vapor in Rochester-type inhalation chambers for 6 hr daily beginning on Gestation Day 6. Exposure continued for both dams and pups through Postnatal Day 21 (PND 21) to model gestational and neonatal toxicity in humans. Several behavioral procedures were used to assess exposure effects in the offspring. Male-female littermates were studied whenever possible to examine sex differences, with one pair from a litter for each procedure. Exposure to methanol did not affect suckling latency and nipple attachment on PND 5 or performance on an aversive olfactory conditioning procedure on PND 10. Exposure to methanol did alter performances in a motor activity procedure. Methanol-exposed neonates were less active on PND 18, but more active on PND 25 than the equivalent control group pups. Two operant conditioning procedures, not used previously in this context, assayed other littermates as adults. A fixed ratio schedule required the rat to rotate a running wheel a specified number of revolutions to obtain food-pellet reinforcers. When the fixed ratio requirement changed, number of responses (revolutions) per 1-hr session displayed a complex interaction with treatment. Changes in performance over the course of training differed between males and females depending on exposure to methanol. Compared to initial baseline performances, methanol-exposed males showed decreases, and methanol-exposed females increases, in the rate of running. A stochastic spatial discrimination procedure permitted subjects to respond on any three levers, with the probabilities of food-pellet delivery determined by the location of the preceding response. A reinforcement matrix defined the response sequence required to maximize reinforcements. When the matrix was changed, the methanol-exposed subjects responded less efficiently at asymptotic levels of performance than controls. Across procedures, developmental exposure to 4500 ppm methanol vapor was associated with subtle behavioral changes in both neonates and adults.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed2006

Postnatal development of masseteric motoneurons in congenital hypothyroid rats.

It has been known that an intact thyroid hormone is obligatory for the attainment of the normal masticatory function at the time of weaning. Following induced maternal thyroid hypo-function, the development of masseter motoneurons was determined at postnatal days 1, 7, 15 and 23 (weaning time), using retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in the normal and hypothyroid pups. Based on the HRP labeling profile (strong and weak), the soma area of the masseteric labeled motoneurons was measured in each group. No significant morphological differences were observed at the end of the first week of life. On day 15, hypothyroid masseteric labeled motoneurons consisted of 76% small and 24% medium-sized neurons compared to 58% and 42% in normal pups, respectively. At the time of weaning (i.e., day 23) the number of large masseter motoneurons reached to 1/3 of normal value with few, short and disoriented dendrites in the hypothyroid pup. There was no statistically significant difference in the uptake of HRP from the neuromuscular junction. These results suggest that neonatal thyroid hormone deficiency considerably postponed the development of feeding behavior from sucking to chewing and biting.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Effects of serotonergic and cholinergic antagonists on suckling behavior of neonatal, infant, and weanling rat pups.

In Experiment 1, Sprague-Dawley rat pups at postnatal days 3-4, 7-8, 10-11, 15-16, and 23-24 were tested for suckling behavior on their anesthesized multiparous dams following administration of metergoline or scopolamine. The serotonergic antagonist, metergoline, inhibited suckling in 3- to 4- and 7- to 8-day-old rat pups, but was not found to influence suckling in older pups. Scopolamine, a cholinergic antagonist, reduced suckling primarily in 3- to 4-day-old pups. In Experiment 2, parity of the maternal female was manipulated to assess whether this variable would influence suckling behavior and the effects of metergoline on suckling of weanlings. Baseline levels of suckling were reduced in 23- to 24-day-old pups of primiparous dams when compared with multiparous-derived offspring. Administration of metergoline increased the amount of time that these primiparous-derived pups spent attached to nipples, but did not influence suckling of offspring of multiparous dams, perhaps as a result of a ceiling effect on suckling behavior in these animals.

Acetylcholine↗