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Dad’s Absence Affects Neurobiology of Offspring ~ Mental Health Blog


Scientists
at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) have
discovered that an absent father during critical growth periods can lead to
social and behavioral impairments in adults. This is the first study of its
kind to correlate paternal deprivation and social attributes with physical
changes in the brain.

“Although we
used mice, the findings are extremely relevant to humans,” says senior
author Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, a researcher of the Mental Illness and Addiction
Axis at the RI-MUHC and an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University.
“We used California
mice which, like in some human populations, are monogamous and raise their
offspring together.”

Researchers were
able to control the environment in which the mice were raised, including the
factors among the different groups.  As a
result, mice studies may be clearer than human studies claims Francis Bambico,
a former student of Dr. Gobbi at McGill and now a post-doc at the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto.

Researchers compared
the social behaviour and brain structure of mice in different groups; those raised
with both parents and those raised by their mothers. Findings show that mice
raised by single mothers experienced abnormal social interactions and were more
aggressive than those raised with both parents present. In addition, these
findings were more prevalent among female mice. 
Furthermore, females also experienced an increased sensitivity to
amphetamine.

“The
behavioral deficits we observed are consistent with human studies of children
raised without a father,” says Dr. Gobbi, who is also a psychiatrist at
the MUHC. “These children have been shown to have an increased risk for
deviant behavior and in particular, girls have been shown to be at risk for
substance abuse. This suggests that these mice are a good model for
understanding how these effects arise in humans.”

Further studies
may uncover a clearer reasoning for such findings.  Is it merely the presence of a male role
model?  Could it be that two parents,
regardless of gender, have more influence than one?  Could male mice be more sensitive to
amphetamine if raised by fathers alone? 
Many questions remain for future studies to uncover, however this
research demonstrates that the role of the father and/or the presence of both
parents during critical stages of growth appear to be relatively important in
children’s mental health development. 

Dads: How Important Are They? New Research Highlights Value of Fathers in Both Neurobiology and Behavior of Offspring

© www.mentalhealthblog.com

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