Psychosomatic Medicine 35:350-359 (1973)
© 1973 American Psychosomatic Society

The Role of Nutrition in the Physiological and Behavioral Effects of Early Maternal Separation on Infant Rats

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Hospital Bronx, New York

Myron A. Hofer, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Hospital, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, New York 10467

Two week old rat pups were separated from their mothers and fed milk through previously implanted gastric cannulas at 3 different constant infusion rates for 24 h. A 4th group remained unfed. Cardiac and respiratory rates fell 40% in the unfed group and were maintained by the higher infusion rates. A close overall relationship was found between weight change and changes in cardiac rate (r = 0.79) and respiratory rate (r = 0.54). In contrast, the behavior of these pups in an unfamiliar test area, although clearly different from normally mothered pups, was unrelated to the level of nutritional intake.

The results demonstrate nutritional regulation of cardiac and respiratory systems and independence of behavior from nutritional intake during the day following separation. The concomitant physiological and behavioral responses to the experience of maternal separation appear to have independent underlying mechanisms.

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