Effects of early experiences on mother-offspring interaction and the behaviour of the adult offspring

In recent years numerous studies focusing on early experiences have been carried out in order to examine and understand how early experiences effects the behaviour of the adult animal. The development of the nervous system in an animal is a dynamic process and depends largely on the individual ́s interactions with its environment before as well as after birth and this hence influences the behavioural development. And there is a reason to believe that there is a window of opportunity during the neonatal phase for influences that can lead to phenotypic alterations of the adult animal, for instance in the response to stress. In fact the mother-offspring relationship during the neonatal phase has been shown to be an important factor in the so-called HPA (hypothalamus-pituitaryadrenal) stress response. In rodents, the strategies animals use to cope with stress as adults are affected by the amount of maternal care received during their early development. The licking and grooming in the rat may also serve to transmit information regarding the quality of the maternal environment to the offspring and such parental effects are believed to function as a source of phenotypic plasticity that in concert with environmental demands may influence offspring phenotype.