Changes in the Intensity of Maternal Aggression and Central Oxytocin and Vasopressin V1a Receptors Across the Peripartum Period in the Rat

Sarah D. Caughey · Stefanie M. Klampfl · Valerie R. Bishop · J. Pfoertsch · Inga D. Neumann · Oliver J. Bosch +1 more

107 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Neuroendocrinology

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior Animal Behavior and Reproduction Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Abstract

Maternal aggressive behaviour, which protects the offspring from harm, is one component of maternal behaviour. Not only maternal aggression, but also maternal care and social behaviour in general, is regulated by the brain oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) systems. In the present study, we quantified the intensity of maternal aggression using the maternal defence test at key time points throughout pregnancy, parturition and lactation. Furthermore, we quantified changes in central OXT and arginine AVP V1a receptor (V1a-R) binding in brain regions known to be important in regulating maternal aggression, aiming to investigate whether central changes coincide with the intensity of this behaviour. The intensity of aggression was found to dramatically change over the peripartum period, with its first appearance on the day before parturition. Aggression intensity fell immediately after parturition, although it increased during days 4-7 of lactation, before almost disappearing at weaning. OXT receptor (OTR) and V1a-R binding also showed changes through the peripartum period. OTR binding was highest at parturition within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and medial preoptic area and on days 4-7 of lactation in the lateral septum (LS) compared to any other time point during the peripartum period. OTR binding positively correlated with the peak of maternal aggression, suggesting that OXT may act in the LS to facilitate the expression of aggressive behaviour. At parturition, V1a-R binding was at its highest levels in the paraventricular nucleus and central amygdala (CeA) and, in the LS, V1a-R binding positively correlated with aggressive behaviour. V1a-R mRNA expression was also increased within the CeA at parturition. Taken together, the observed fluctuations in OTR and V1a-R binding in the neural circuitry important for regulating maternal behaviour may ensure that maternal aggression is expressed at the correct time during the peripartum period.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 107 citations exist upstream.

References

2000Social amnesia in mice lacking the oxytocin gene 2004Vasopressin and oxytocin release within the brain: a dynamic concept of multiple and variable modes of neuropeptide communication 2005Vasopressin and Oxytocin Excite Distinct Neuronal Populations in the Central Amygdala 2008Brain Oxytocin: A Key Regulator of Emotional and Social Behaviours in Both Females and Males 1967Nonhormonal Basis of Maternal Behavior in the Rat 2007Vasopressin: Behavioral roles of an “original” neuropeptide 2000Variations in Maternal Behaviour are Associated with Differences in Oxytocin Receptor Levels in the Rat 1994Oxytocin activates the postpartum onset of rat maternal behavior in the ventral tegmental and medial preoptic areas.

Cited by

2014Oxytocin in the medial prefrontal cortex regulates maternal care, maternal aggression and anxiety during the postpartum period 2012Effects of early life social stress on maternal behavior and neuroendocrinology 2017Freezing suppression by oxytocin in central amygdala allows alternate defensive behaviours and mother-pup interactions 2014Neuroendocrinology of childbirth and mother–child attachment: The basis of an etiopathogenic model of perinatal neurobiological disorders

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.