Meeting Abstract

P2.7  Saturday, Jan. 5  Effect of Chronic Variables Stress on Paternal Behavior in California Mouse Fathers HARRIS, BN*; DE JONG, TR; YANG, V; SALTZMAN, W; University of California, Riverside bharr002@ucr.edu

Stress and chronically elevated glucocorticoid levels have been shown to decrease parental behavior in mothers; however, almost no studies have investigated this effect in fathers. We predicted that exposing California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) fathers to a chronic variable stress (CVS) paradigm would decrease paternal behavior and alter development and/or survival of pups. First-time fathers were subjected to a 7-day CVS protocol consisting of 21 total stress events (7 different stressor types in semi-random order) administered every 6-10 hours (chronic stress group, CS, n=8). Control fathers were separated from their mate and pups for the stressor duration (separation controls, SC, n=7), or were left unmanipulated (undisturbed controls, UC, n=8). Body mass, plasma corticosterone (CORT) concentrations, paternal behavior and pup development were monitored across the study. Immediately after CVS, all fathers were exposed to a novel stressor and blood samples were collected for CORT; animals were sacrificed and organ masses were determined. CS fathers lost body mass over the course of the experiment and had higher CORT levels on day 4 compared to UC and SC fathers. Additionally, CS fathers had smaller thymi than both UC and SC fathers, and larger adrenals than UC fathers. CS fathers showed several behavioral differences from SC and UC fathers, including more time away from pups, more time autogrooming, and less time huddling with the mate and pups. Nonetheless, no significant differences in pup developmental measures were found. These results demonstrate that CVS does alter paternal behavior in P. californicus fathers, but effects were subtle and did not alter pup development under these circumstances. Supported by NIH 1R21MH087806.