Effect of stress on maternal behaviour.

Primiparous female rats subjected to foot shock and/or immobilization stress were tested for maternal behaviour (MB) by determining the pup retrieval rate (PRR) for 5 minutes. On the third day after parturition PRR significantly decreased when foot shock was given and the fall was more pronounced after immobilization both with and without foot shock. The animals exhibited enhanced MB on the 12th day as compared to the third day, but the stressful situations produced significant decreases in MB qualitatively similar to the third day. By the 20th day when the weaning was in progress the MB decreased to the 3rd day levels. This change in the MB may be due to the changes in the pattern of prolactin secretion during the post partum period.