Effect of maternal diet on offspring coping styles in rodents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Besson, A A and Lagisz, M and Senior, A M and Hector, K L and Nakagawa, S

Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (2016) 91: 1065–1080

DOI: 10.1111/brv.12210

Abstract

Maternal nutrition can have long-term effects on offspring morphology, physiology and behaviours. However, it is unclear whether mothers ’program’ offspring behavioural coping strategy (proactive/reactive) according to the predicted nutritional quality of their future environment. We conducted a systematic review on this topic and meta-analytically synthesized relevant experimental data on mice and rats (46 studies). We included data from experiments where dams were subjected to caloric restriction, protein restriction or overfeeding around gestation and subsequently measured offspring activity, exploration, or anxiety. Overall, little evidence existed for effects of maternal nutrition on the three investigated behavioural traits. The high heterogeneity observed in the data set suggests that maternal programming may sometimes occur. However, because offspring had access to a balanced diet before testing, behaviours may have been reprogrammed. Our results may indicate that reprogrammed behaviours could ameliorate negative effects associated with sub-optimal nutrition in early life. Further, our systematic review revealed clear knowledge gaps and fruitful future research avenues.

Citation

Besson, A. A., Lagisz, M., Senior, A. M., Hector, K. L., & Nakagawa, S. (2016). Effect of maternal diet on offspring coping styles in rodents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 91(4), 1065–1080. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12210 Rats, Mice, Reproduction, Nutrition

Keywords

• Rats
• Mice
• Reproduction
• Nutrition