Maternal care and affective behavior in female offspring: Implication of the neurosteroid/GABAergic system.

•Maternal care and estrous cycle phase influence saccharine preference.•Maternal care and estrous cycle phase influence hippocampal allopregnanolone level.•Low level of maternal care animals show higher levels of hedonic and anxiety-like behaviors.•Maternal care influences correlations between hippocampal allopregnanolone levels and GABAAR subunit expression.