Animal models are widely used to study MDD, including PPD. Many laboratory animal models of PPD have been generated through abrupt withdrawal after administering exogenous glucocorticoids or ovarian hormones [21–23], repeated stress during pregnancy [24–26], glucocorticoid exposure, or separating mother from pups during the postpartum period [6, 27], which mimic the contributing biological or psychosocial factors to PPD in women, to induce depressive-like behaviors and altered neuroplasticity or synaptic plasticity in maternal brain areas, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the nucleus accumbens, and the hippocampus [26, 28–31]. However, the response of postpartum female mice to chronic stress-induced depressive behaviors, susceptibility, and the underlying functional genes remain unclear.
