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. 2012 Jul;54(5):514-22.
doi: 10.1002/dev.20609. Epub 2011 Sep 27.

Persistent sensitization of depressive-like behavior and thermogenic response during maternal separation in pre- and post-weaning guinea pigs

Randi L Schneider  1 , Patricia A Schiml, Terrence Deak, Michael B Hennessy
Affiliations

Persistent sensitization of depressive-like behavior and thermogenic response during maternal separation in pre- and post-weaning guinea pigs

Randi L Schneider et al. Dev Psychobiol. 2012 Jul.

Abstract

Early attachment disruption is thought to promote later onset of depressive illness through a process involving sensitization. Maternal separation in guinea pig pups produces depressive-like behavior and core body temperature fluctuations that appear to be mediated by proinflammatory activity. In pups near the age of weaning (~20 days of age), these responses are increased during repeated separations occurring over several days. Here, enhanced depressive-like behavior and core body temperature responses were observed during repeated separations in guinea pigs from ~10 to 30 days of age. The sensitization lasted for more than a week, with the greatest temperature response occurring during the final separation. These results demonstrate persisting sensitization of behavioral and thermogenic responses to maternal separation over the age range in which these responses are known to occur. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that proinflammatory activity contributes to the sensitization response and provide further suggestion that the impact of early attachment disruption on susceptibility to depression may involve proinflammatory processes.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Illustration of the study design. Each arrow represents a single separation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The upper panel illustrates the mean core temperature across all age groups undergoing multiple separations. For comparison, mean core temperature for each of the individual age groups is depicted in the remaining panels. *p < 0.05 vs each of other two groups
Figure 3
Figure 3
The top and bottom panels illustrate the mean core temperature and activity counts, respectively, across time blocks during the initial separation for all age groups. Vertical lines represent standard errors of the means.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean activity counts across all age groups undergoing multiple separations.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The upper panel illustrates the mean number of vocalizations emitted by animals across age groups during repeated separations. The bottom panel shows the mean number of 1-min intervals of passive, depressive-like response exhibited by animals across age groups during repeated separations. Vertical lines represent standard errors of the means. † p < 0.05 vs third separation; * p < 0.05 vs first separation.
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