Paternal Aggression in Early-life Impairs the Spatial Memory and Passive Avoidance Learning in Adulthood of Male Rats: The Possible Role of

Introduction: Negative early-life experiences (e.g. having an aggressive father) can leave long-lastingimpacts on the behavior. However, it is not clear if they influence learning and memory. Methods: In this study, we investigated the influences that the presence of an aggressive father had on the level of passive avoidance learning and spatial memory. We also studied the changes in the dopamine receptor D2 ( Results: We found that the subjects exposed to early-life stress made by aggressive fathers had impaired passive avoidance learning and spatial memory compared to subjects with normal fathers. Treatment with sulpiride improved passive avoidance learning and spatial memory in rats with aggressive fathers. The rats with aggressive fathers also had higher expression of the Conclusion: These data suggest that having and living in a shared place with an aggressive father, even without any physical contact, can detrimentally affect passive avoidance learning and spatial memory which is accompanied by the increased expression of the Highlights: Having and living with an aggressive father reduced learning and memory in offspring.Having and living with an aggressive father during early life increased Plain Language Summary: In this study, we looked at how having an aggressive father, can affect behavior in the long term. We wanted to find out if this factor influences learning and memory. To do this, we investigated how the presence of an aggressive father affected passive avoidance learning and spatial memory in subjects. We also examined specific genes in the brain, called