Absence of behavioral deficits following neonatal undernutrition in the rat

Previous studies of the effects of early undernutrition on behavior in adult rats have confounded underfeeding with maternal deprivation or membership in a large litter. In the present experiment food‐deprived rats received full‐time maternal care and lived in the same‐sized litters as well‐fed controls. In contrast to previous findings food‐deprived animals in the present study did not differ from controls in the open‐field test, in a test of motor coordination, and in 2 learning tasks. However, food‐deprived animals were more active than controls in a residential plus maze. Females showed less effect of food deprivation on body growth, but a much greater effect on activity, than males. These findings suggest that early undernutrition when not confounded with social and maternal deprivation may have more restricted effects on adult behavior than has been previously believed.