一项研究发现，在出生时就和母亲分开的猕猴可能遭受持续的焦虑症状。科研人员已经确认了和母亲在早期分离可能影响猴的应对压力的能力,但是这种不良效应的持续时间在很大程度上还是未知的。Xintian Hu及其同事分析了母婴分离对出生后即与母亲分离的猕猴在3年后的影响。在这些年间这些猴主要是由同伴抚养，它们过一种正常的社会生活。与被自己的母亲抚养的猴相比，被同伴抚养的猴的颈部后面的毛发中的压力激素氢化可的松的基准水平更低，氢化可的松有助于管理压力。此外，3年的正常社会生活看上去没有彻底消除早期母婴分离的影响：由同伴抚养的猴的走动更少，更不常坐在一起。然而，它们绕着自己的笼子走，吮吸自己的手指和脚趾，并且比母亲抚养的猴更经常地抓住自己身体的一些部分，这提示出生时的母婴分离可能导致持续到至多3岁的焦虑行为。这组作者说，这些发现提示猕猴可能是研究儿童期创伤经历的一个适宜的实验模型。
PNAS：与母亲分开可能对猕猴的焦虑具有长期的效应
生物探索推荐英文论文摘要：
Maternal separation produces lasting changes in cortisol and behavior in rhesus monkeys
Abstract
Maternal separation (MS), which can lead to hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis dysfunction and behavioral abnormalities in rhesus monkeys, is frequently used to model early adversity. Whether this deleterious effect on monkeys is reversible by later experience is unknown. In this study, we assessed the basal hair cortisol in rhesus monkeys after 1.5 and 3 y of normal social life following an early separation. These results showed that peer-reared monkeys had significantly lower basal hair cortisol levels than the mother-reared monkeys at both years examined. The plasma cortisol was assessed in the monkeys after 1.5 y of normal social life, and the results indicated that the peak in the peer-reared cortisol response to acute stressors was substantially delayed. In addition, after 3 y of normal social life, abnormal behavioral patterns were identified in the peer-reared monkeys. They showed decreases in locomotion and initiated sitting together, as well as increases in stereotypical behaviors compared with the mother-reared monkeys. These results demonstrate that the deleterious effects of MS on rhesus monkeys cannot be compensated by a later normal social life, suggesting that the effects of MS are long-lasting and that the maternal-separated rhesus monkeys are a good animal model to study early adversity and to investigate the development of psychiatric disorders induced by exposure to early adversity.
