Maternal separation alters neuronal spine density and neurogenesis in the hippocampus of pups and mother

The vulnerability of the hippocampus to the negative effects of stress, particularly when experienced early in life, is one of the key translational neuroscience discoveries of the 20th century. Indeed, the quality of perinatal environment and postnatal experience has been shown to predict vulnerability to psychopathologies and cognitive function in the adult. The proposed study aims to improve the knowledge of the adaptive allostatic changes elicited by adverse experiences during lifetime. We focus on adverse experiences that involve mother-infant relationship disruption. In the present study the mothers was separated for three hours a day from their pups after delivery. The amount of BDNF, Activity–Regulated Cytoskeletal protein (Arc), dendritic spines and neurogenesis was measured in hippocampus of female rats at the weaning and in the hippocampus of pups at 21, 30 and 60 days after birth. All these parameters were markedly decreased in the in hippocampus of mother or pups, respect to the amount found in the mother or pups bred in normal conditions. The motherhood-induced increase the neuronal plasticity as well as the reversal by pups separation suggest a crucial role of these proteins in the regulation of rat maternal care.