Tail-pinch facilitates onset of maternal behavior in rats

Previous reports indicated that non-maternal female rats display a component of maternal behavior, namely, ano-genital licking of pups during, but not after a mild tail-pinch. The present study extends these findings and demonstrates that intermittent applications of brief tail-pinches accelerate in a dose-dependent pattern, the onset of all components of pup-stimulated maternal behavior in virgins. This suggests that the behavioral effects of tail-pinch stimulation outlast the pinch period and are cumulative.