Functional development is measured by a battery of tests, for each of which there is a critical
day or few days where effects of prenatal, or early postnatal experimental treatments can be
detected (see Fride and Weinstock, 1985). The normal development of the motor system is assessed
by measuring: Righting reflex (days 2-4); Cliff Avoidance (days 4-10); Turning on an inclined
plane (days 5-10); Swimming behaviour (days 6-10). In addition, the development of motivational
behaviours is measured by using a home-seeking test (days 6-16) and other developmental landmarks
are recorded including acoustic response (days12-14) and eye-opening (days14-17).
The drug treated litters are compared to a vehicle treated control group to determine if the test
drug delays or accelerates the development.
Altman,J, Brunner,R, Bulut,F and Sudarshan,K (1974). The development of behavior in normal and
brain-damaged infant rats studied with a hominfg (nest-seeking) as motivation
In A. Vedakis and N. Weiner (eds) Drugs and the develpoing brain. New York Plenum Press pp. 321-348.
Altman,J and Sudarshan, K (1975) Postnatal development of locomotion in the laboratory rat
Animal Behav. 23: 896-920.
Vorhees,C (1983) Behavioral teratogenicity testing as a method of screening for hazards to human
health: A methodological proposal. Neurobehav. Toxicol. Teratol. 5: 469-474.
Wayner, M (1976) Development of reflex activity in the newborn rat. In B. Hard (ed.)
Experimentyal Psychobiology, A laboratory Manual. San Francisco: WH Freedman & Co. pp. 85-90.1976.
Maternal behavior and mother-pup interactions in mice and rats
The behaviour of a (rodent) dam toward her offspring is measured during the first week after birth,
when maternal instinct is at its peak and she spends most of her time building the nest,
nursing or retrieving the pups.
On day 1,4 and 7, dams are removed from their litters, and then, their litters removed from the home
cage. Before removal, the quality of the nest is scored (0-2) and whether the dam was found
crouching over the pups, or not, is recorded. Then, a "corridor" is placed in their home cage;
the pups are placed at one end of the cage, the opposite side of where the dam had build her nest.
The dam is then returned to her (now empty) nest and the time recorded in which she a) makes contact
with the first pup; b) retrieves the first pup to the nest; c) retrieves all pups to the nest.
Compounds are tested for interference with these behaviours and are compared to a vehicle-treated
control group.
Johanson, I.B. (1980) Alterations in the maternal behavior of rats rearing hypothyroid and
hyperthyroid offspring, Devel. Psychobiology 13: 111-121.
