Sedation and disruption of maternal motivation underlie the disruptive effects of antipsychotics treatment on rat maternal behavior

tive effect on active maternal responsiveness (e.g., pup retrieval, pup licking, nest building) in postpartum rats. Acute administration of typical and atypical antipsychotics disrupts pup retrieval, pup lick-ing, and nest building but not nursing in postpartum female rats (Giordano et al., 1990; Hansen et al., 1991a; Silva et al., 2001; Stern and Keer, 1999; Stern and Taylor, 1991). Animals under the influ-ence of antipsychotics are slower to approach pups and retrieve fewer pups. They also spend less time licking their offspring and building the nest (Li et al., 2004a). Furthermore, novel antipsychot-ics (e.g., amisulpride and aripiprazole) also exhibit a certain degree of inhibition on active maternal responses in a dose-dependent fash-ion (Li et al., 2005a). Chronic treatment with haloperidol or olanzap-ine via mini-pumps or repeated daily injections significantly inhib-its rat active maternal behavior as well (Li et al., 2005b). It seems that the antipsychotic-induced disruption on pup retrieval, pup licking