How early maternal deprivation changes the brain and behavior?

Čater, Maša (author), Majdič, Gregor (author)

Early life stress can adversely influence brain development and reprogram brain function and consequently behavior in adult life. Adequate maternal care in early childhood is therefore particularly important for the normal brain development, and adverse early life experiences can lead to altered emotional, behavioral, and neuroendocrine stress responses in the adulthood. As a form of neonatal stress, maternal deprivation/separation is often used in behavioral studies to examine the effects of early life stress and for modeling the development of certain psychiatric disorders and brain pathologies in animal models. The temporary loss of maternal care during the critical postpartum periods remodels the offspring's brain and provokes long-term effects on learning and cognition, the development of mental disorders, aggression, and an increased tendency for the drug abuse. Early life stress through maternal deprivation affects neuroendocrine responses to stress in adolescence and adulthood by dysregulating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and permanently disrupts stress resilience. In this review, we focused on how improper maternal care during early postnatal life affects brain development resulting in modified behavior later in life.

• Language: English
• Keywords: behavior, brain, development, maternal deprivation, programming, stress
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: VF - Veterinary Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2022
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 2058-2075
• Numbering: Vol. 55, no. 9/10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-140821
• UDC: 612
• ISSN on article: 1460-9568
• DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15238
• COBISS.SI-ID: 64141571
• Publication date in RUL: 19.09.2022

ČATER, Maša and MAJDIČ, Gregor, 2022, How early maternal deprivation changes the brain and behavior? European journal of neuroscience [online]. 2022. Vol. 55, no. 9/10, p. 2058–2075. [Accessed 15 April 2025]. DOI 10.1111/ejn.15238. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=140821

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: European journal of neuroscience
• Shortened title: EJN, Eur. j. neurosci.
• Publisher: Wiley, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies
• ISSN: 1460-9568
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517706521

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 19.09.2022

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: EU, MIZŠ: C3330-17-529030