Effects of cross-fostering experience on emotion in adolescent Kunming mice

Abstract

Parent-infant bonds are critical early postnatal environment in mammals. Unstable parent-infant bonds, such as maternal separation, paternal deprivation, and neonatal social isolation have negative effects on emotion, cognition, addiction, and social behaviours in the animal's whole lifespan. Another unstable parent-infant bond, cross-fostering, in which pups were randomly exchanged to other parents has mostly focused on kin recognition and anxiety-like behavioural changes in adult. But its effects on adolescence, particularly on autism spectrum disorder, are poorly understood. Whole cross-fostering model was used in the present study. The results showed that with cross-fostering, adolescent Kunming mice buried more marbles, expressed higher levels of anxiety and depression. Cross-fostering attenuated prosocial behaviours and reduced the activity of adolescence when encountering another individual in social interaction test. Taken together, our results demonstrate that experiencing whole cross-fostering in early life is more likely to induce autism-, anxiety-, and depression- like behaviours in adolescence.