Background
Behavioral inhibition (BI) to novelty is thought to be a stable temperament type that
appears early in life and is a major risk factor for anxiety disorders. In the rat,
habituation of such inhibition can be facilitated via neonatal novelty exposure (NNE),
thus reducing BI to novelty. Here, we tested the hypothesis that this early intervention
effect is modulated by the context of maternal self-stress regulation.
Methods
The NNE was carried out during postnatal days 1–21, in which one half of each litter
was exposed to a relatively novel nonhome environment for 3-min daily while the remaining
one half stayed in the home cage. After weaning, BI to novelty was assessed in an
open field with a measure of disinhibition defined as a greater increase in exploration
across two brief trials. Maternal context was characterized by trait measures of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
(HPA) axis reactivity, including basal and stress-evoked corticosterone (CORT) responses.
Results
Family-to-family variations in the NNE effect were associated with variations in maternal
HPA function—a low-basal CORT and high-evoked CORT response profile constituting the
context for a novelty-induced facilitation of disinhibition (i.e., a greater increase
in exploratory activity over repeated trials) and an opposite HPA profile constituting
the context for a novelty-induced reduction of disinhibition.
Conclusions
This result is consistent with the hypothesis that maternal self-stress regulation
modulates the effect of early life intervention on BI to novelty and suggests that
effective interventions should include strategies to help mothers improve their self-stress
regulation.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 23, 2012
Accepted:
March 18,
2012
Received in revised form:
February 28,
2012
Received:
January 4,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
