Table 1.
Preclinical peripartum stress models.
| Species/Strain | Stress type | Stress timing and duration | Behavioral outcomes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouse/B6D2F1 | Chronic ultramild stress | 3 weeks beginning from time of mating to PD0; cage tilt, confinement to small cage, paired housing, one overnight period of difficult access to food, one overnight period of light exposure, and one overnight period in a soiled cage | ↓ aggression towards intruder | Pardon et al. (2000) |
| Rat/Hooded Lister | Chronic restraint stress | 1h daily from GD 10-20 | ↑ immobility in second exposure to FST, ↓ maternal care | Smith et al. (2004) |
| Mouse/B6D2F1 | Chronic ultramild stress | From GD 1-15 or PD 1-3; cage tilt, confinement to small cage, paired housing, one overnight period of difficult access to food, one overnight period of light exposure, and one overnight period in a soiled cage | No behavioral outcomes measured | Misdrahi et al. (2005) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic subcutaneous CORT injections | 40 mg/kg CORT injections daily from PD 1-26 | ↓ maternal care and ↑ immobility in FST | Brummelte et al. (2006) |
| Rat/Fisher | Chronic restraint stress | 3X 45-min bouts daily from GD 14-21 | ↑ immobility in FST | O’Mahoney et al. (2006) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic subcutaneous CORT injections | Low (10 mg/kg) or high (40 mg/kg) concentrations of CORT injected daily from GD 10-20 and/or PD 2-24 | ↓ maternal care and ↑ immobility in FST in high CORT postpartum dams | Brummelte and Galea (2010) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic social stress | Daily presentation of novel male intruder for 1h from PD 2-16 | ↓ maternal care, ↑ agression and ↑ self-grooming | Nephew and Bridges (2011) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic subcutaneous CORT injections and impoverished housing | 40 mg/kg CORT injected daily from PD 2-24 (housing conditions concurrent with injections) | ↓ maternal care and ↑ immobility in FST | Workman et al. (2013) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic inescapable swim stress and restraint stress | 20 min of inescapable swim stress 2X daily from GD 7-13, then restraint 2X daily for 30 min from GD 14-20 (exception: restraint was used to replace inescapable swim stress for rats subjected to FST) | ↑ immobility in FST, ↓ maternal care, ↓ cognitive flexibility in PFC-mediated attentional set shifting task | Leuner et al. (2014) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic restraint stress | 2X 30-min bouts daily from GD 7-20 | ↑ immobility in FST at early/mid and late postpartum | Haim et al. (2014) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic subcutaneous CORT injections | 40 mg/kg CORT injected daily from PD 2-23 | ↓ maternal care, ↑ self-grooming, ↑ immobility in FST | Workman et al. (2016) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic restraint stress | 3X 45-min bouts daily from GD 15-20, and 2X on GD21 | No behavioral outcomes measured | Gemmel et al. (2016) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic unpredictable stress | 0-2 stressors/day for 3 weeks prior to breeding; restraint under bright light, overcrowding, overnight damp bedding, 12h food deprivation; 5 min of forced swimming, cage rotation | ↓ breeding success and maintenance of pregnancy, ↑ time nursing in first week postpartum | Gemmel et al. (2018) |
| Rat/Spague-Dawley | Chronic restraint stress | 1h daily for 5 consecutive weeks prior to breeding | ↓ self-grooming in splash test, ↓ time in center in OFT | Czarzasta et al. (2019) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Chronic variable stress | 1 stressor/day from PD 2-21; wet bedding, 4h empty water bottle, overnight light exposure, tail pinch, dirty bedding, stroboscopic lighting, white noise, low bedding, and cage tilt | ↑ distance traveled in the OFT | Medina et al. (2021) |
| Rat/Sprague-Dawley | Limited bedding and nesting | GD 19 to PD 9, with bedding replaced daily | ↓ arched-back nursing and ↑ simple blanket nursing, ↓ consumption of novel candy in hoarding task, ↓ time in the open arms of EPM | Gifford et al. (2023) |
| Mouse/Swiss | Chronic offspring deprivation and obesity | 3h daily from PD 1-10 | ↓ grooming after splash test | Cruz et al. (2023) |
| Rat/Wistar | Chronic mild unpredictable stress | 1 stressor/day of varying lengths of time and times of day from GD 10-19; white noise, wet bedding, no bedding, cage tilt, overnight light exposure, and acute restraint stress | ↓ sucrose preference, ↓ maternal care, ↓ latency to immobility in FST | Gorman-Sandler et al. (2023) |
PD, postpartum day(s); GD, gestational day(s); FST, forced swim test; CORT, corticosterone; PFC, prefrontal cortex; OFT, open field test; EPM, elevated plus maze.