Activity and exploratory behavior of adult offspring of undernourished mother rats

✍ Scribed by Dr. J. L. Smart

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 415 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0012-1630
• DOI: 10.1002/dev.420070408

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Mother rats were either adequately fed or were undernourished during much of pregnancy and throughout lactation. Both control (C) and undernourished (UN) offspring had free access to food from weaning. Rats were tested between 15 and 27 weeks of age. During repeated exposures on the same day in a rectangular observation box, UN rats moved about more and reared on their hind legs more often than controls, but defecated less frequently. Two measures of exploratory behavior, tendency to emerge from a familiar to an unfamiliar area and responsiveness to a novel object, did not differentiate the 2 groups, nor did control and UN rats differ in the rate at which they pressed a lever to produce a light stimulus in a dark Skinner box. These and other long‐term, activity studies indicate that previously undernourished rats are more active than controls in familiar, nonstressful situations.