0272 Effects of Gestational Sleep Restriction on Maternal Behavior in Rodents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep restriction during pregnancy is related with postpartum depression in clinical settings. Preclinical studies have been conducted in rodent models of maternal behavior, intending to evaluate the mechanisms behind this relationship, but have raised inconsistent data so far. Our aims were to perform a preclinical meta-analysis, evaluating the actual effects or prenatal sleep restriction on maternal behavior in rodents. Method(s): A bibliographic search was conducted in Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Psychinfo and Lilacs. Search strategy encompassed three domains: sleep restriction during pregnancy (as intervention), maternal behavior (as outcome) and experimentation animals (as population). Studies were first selected based on titles and abstracts, followed by full text analysis and data extraction. Individual effect size for each articles was calculated using standardized mean difference and meta-analysis was conducted using a DerSimonian and Laird random effects model. Result(s): 144 articles were included in our initial data screening. Sample was reduced to six records after screening. A meta-analysis was performed, including data from two maternal behavior tests (pup retrieval test and ethogram-based analyses). A total of 115 animals were included. Meta-analysis showed that sleep restriction during pregnancy have no significant effects on maternal behavior. Conclusion(s): Clinical studies and meta-analysis have shown that sleep restriction and disorders during pregnancy increase risk for postpartum depression. However, preclinical studies fail to corroborate these results, as sleep restriction during pregnancy does not reduce maternal behavior in rodents. The presence of negative effects in women and the maintenance of normal maternal behavior levels in rodents under comparable intervention demonstrate that other factors might mediate this relationship (among which, sociocultural factors might play a role). The maintenance of maternal behavior seems to be an adaptive behavior, assuring the suitability and survival of the litter, even in face of environmental stresses.