Foster pups change maternal behavior of B6 dams.

<p>(A) Mean (+/– SEM) cumulative latencies to retrieve each of 4 pups to the nest. * Fostering significantly increased the latency to retrieve pups in the home-cage (p<0.05). Specifically, foster dams (n = 10) were significantly slower than biological dams (n = 9) to retrieve the first pup (p<0.04). (B–D) Mean (+/– SEM) number of times dams were seen nursing (B), licking and grooming pups (C), and off the nest (D) * Foster dams licked and groomed their pups significantly less than biological dams (p<0.04) and were off the nest more frequently than biological dams (p<0.04). ^∧ Foster dams exhibited a trend to nurse less frequently than biological dams (p<0.08).