Long-term biobehavioral effects of maternal separation in the rat: consistent or confusing?

Over the last decades of research there has been increasing interest in endocrine and behavioral effects of postnatal environmental manipulations. A manipulation procedure that has been widely used to date is that of maternal separation. Many studies have demonstrated that, in the rat, a single or repeated separation of the pups from the mother leads to acute as well as long-term effects on endocrinology and behavior. However, reviewing the literature shows that contrary findings for almost all parameters investigated can be found. A possible explanation for this inconsistency may be the fact that maternal separation has become a collective term for a variety of extremely different experimental manipulations. Therefore, this review aims at evaluating typical effects of maternal separation in the laboratory rat by categorizing different experimental procedures. We concentrate in particular on longterm behavioral effects, although a brief summary of neuroendocrine effects is also provided. In addition, important methodological issues of maternal separation studies are discussed as a possible source for inconsistent findings.