Sex-dependent and ontogenetic effects of low dose ethanol on social behavioral deficits induced by mouse maternal separation.

Early life stress can induce lifelong emotional and social behavioral deficits that may in some cases be alleviated by drugs or alcohol. A model for early life stress, rodent maternal separation, recapitulates these behavioral sequelae, which are not limited to potentiated anxiety-like behavior, attenuated social motivation, and altered reward-seeking. Here we employed mouse maternal separation with early weaning (MSEW), consisting of pup-dam separation lasting 4-8 hours on postnatal days (PD) 2-16, with early weaning on PD 17.