Effects of tactile stimulation in early life on the development of mouse behavior

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26640024
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Nerve anatomy/Neuropathology
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Shiga Takashi 筑波大学, 医学医療系, 教授 (50178860)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 皮膚刺激 / 養育行動 / 母仔関係 / うつ様行動 / 痛覚感受性 / マウス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The development of brain and behavior is impaired by maternal separation (MS) during the early postnatal period, while it is improved by maternal licking and grooming of pups. Tactile stimulation (TS) may be an important factor in the mother-pup interactions, but its exact roles remain to be examined. I examined roles of TS in the development of brain and behavior.Pregnant BALB/c mice were divided into three groups; MS group, MS+TS group and control group. The ultrasonic vocalization (USV) was recorded during tactile stimulation in MS+TS group, and the maternal separation in MS group. The depression level of pups was examined using forced-swimming (FST) test at adulthood. USV frequency was higher in MS+TS group than in MS group. In FST test, MS+TS group showed shorter floating time and longer swimming timecompared with MS. In conclusion, the present result suggests that TS during the early postnatal period may reduce the level of depression which was induced by maternal separation.

Free Research Field

発達神経科学