Maternal separation results in early emergence of adult-like fear and extinction learning in infant rats.
Abstract
Recent studies in rats have shown that extinction occurring early in life is resistant to relapse and may represent the erasure of fear memories. In the present study we examined the effects of early life stress on extinction in the developing rat, which could have important implications for the treatment of anxiety disorders in those who have experienced early life stress. In the present study, we used maternal-separation on postnatal days (P) 2-14 as an early life stressor. On P17, maternally separated and standard-reared animals were trained to fear a noise associated with a footshock. The fear of this noise was then extinguished (through repeated nonreinforced noise presentations) on P18. Animals were tested for contextually mediated, stress-mediated, and GABA-mediated fear relapse the day after extinction. We found that young animals exposed to maternal-separation were more likely to exhibit context- and stress-mediated relapse after extinction than standard-reared animals (Experiments 1 and 2). Further, unlike standard-reared animals, maternally separated rats exhibited a return of fear when the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA was blocked at test (Experiment 3). These effects were not the result of maternal separation increasing rats' sensitivity to footshock (Experiment 5) and may in part be related to superior long-term memory for contexts in P17 maternally separated rats (Experiment 4). Taken together, these results suggest that early life adversity may prepare youn…
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Maternal presence suppresses corticosterone and amygdala reactivity during an early sensitive period in pre-weaned rodent pups (before P21) that appears to reduce fear and promote attachment behaviors.
“Specifically, maternal presence suppresses corticosterone and amygdala reactivity during an early sensitive period in pre-weaned rodent pups (before P21) that appears to reduce fear and promote attachment behaviors.”
From The impact of developmental timing for stress and recovery (2015) · cites this paper as Callaghan and Richardson, 2011
In rodents, a sensitive period for the effects of maternal presence on amygdala development has been identified.
“In rodents, a sensitive period for the effects of maternal presence on amygdala development has been identified (Moriceau and Sullivan, 2006, Callaghan and Richardson, 2011).”
From The impact of developmental timing for stress and recovery (2015) · cites this paper as Callaghan and Richardson, 2011
Early life adversity may accelerate maturation of fear extinction/recovery behavior, attachment and avoidance learning, reversal learning, and maturation of frontal-amygdala connectivity.
“maturation of fear extinction/recovery behavior (Callaghan and Richardson, 2011), attachment and avoidance learning (Moriceau et al., 2009), reversal learning (Thomas et al., 2015), and maturation of frontal-amygdala connectivity (Gee et al., 2013).”
From Does puberty mark a transition in sensitive periods for plasticity in the associative neocortex? (2017) · cites this paper as Callaghan and Richardson, 2011
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- Authors
- Callaghan, B. L., & Richardson, R.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Venue
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2011-02
- Volume
- 125
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20-28
- ISSN
- 0735-7044 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0084
- OpenAlex
- W2076695069
- Cited by
- 169
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian Research Council (DP0985554)
- Australian Postgraduate Award
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- maternal separation, early life stress, fear extinction, fear relapse, contextual memory, anxiety disorders, infant rats
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Age Factors, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Electric Stimulation, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Male, Maternal Deprivation, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
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