1. Maternal care of heterozygous dopamine receptor D4 knockout mice
- Author
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Jelle Knop, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Marian Joëls, Rixt van der Veen, Clinical Child and Family Studies, and LEARN! - Child rearing
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Litter (animal) ,dopamine receptor D4 ,Physiology ,Differential susceptibility hypothesis ,early-life adversity ,Social Environment ,Nesting Behavior ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,PRENATAL STRESS ,Genotype ,ADOLESCENTS ,Sexual maturity ,Gene–environment interaction ,Maternal Behavior ,0303 health sciences ,limited bedding/nesting ,Neurology ,intergenerational transmission ,differential susceptibility ,Knockout mouse ,SDG 1 - No Poverty ,SEPARATION ,Female ,Original Article ,maternal care ,early‐life adversity ,EXPRESSION ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Heterozygote ,nesting ,Offspring ,Biology ,puberty onset ,03 medical and health sciences ,Internal medicine ,ADVERSITY ,Genetics ,medicine ,Dopamine receptor D4 ,limited bedding ,Animals ,Weaning ,030304 developmental biology ,VULNERABILITY ,RECEPTOR ,animal model ,Body Weight ,Receptors, Dopamine D4 ,Original Articles ,SEXUAL-MATURATION ,gene-environment interaction ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,030104 developmental biology ,Endocrinology ,Prenatal stress ,ONSET ,biology.protein ,EXPERIENCE ,communal nesting ,gene‐environment interaction ,Licking ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
The differential susceptibility hypothesis proposes that individuals who are more susceptible to the negative effects of adverse rearing conditions may also benefit more from enriched environments. Evidence derived from human experiments suggests the lower efficacy dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) 7‐repeat as a main factor in exhibiting these for better and for worse characteristics. However, human studies lack the genetic and environmental control offered by animal experiments, complicating assessment of causal relations. To study differential susceptibility in an animal model, we exposed Drd4 +/− mice and control litter mates to a limited nesting/bedding (LN), standard nesting (SN) or communal nesting (CN) rearing environment from postnatal day (P) 2‐14. Puberty onset was examined from P24 to P36 and adult females were assessed on maternal care towards their own offspring. In both males and females, LN reared mice showed a delay in puberty onset that was partly mediated by a reduction in body weight at weaning, irrespective of Drd4 genotype. During adulthood, LN reared females exhibited characteristics of poor maternal care, whereas dams reared in CN environments showed lower rates of unpredictability towards their own offspring. Differential susceptibility was observed only for licking/grooming levels of female offspring towards their litter; LN reared Drd4 +/− mice exhibited the lowest and CN reared Drd4 +/− mice the highest levels of licking/grooming. These results indicate that both genetic and early‐environmental factors play an important role in shaping maternal care of the offspring for better and for worse., Heterozygous dopamine receptor D4 knock‐out mice (Drd4/−) reared in different environments exhibited alterations in licking/grooming behavior towards their own offspring in line with the differential susceptibility theory.
- Published
- 2020
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