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PubMedDate not supplied

Forebrain AVT and courtship in a fish with male alternative reproductive tactics.

In this paper, we present the results of cellular and molecular studies on the neuroendocrine correlates of male sexual polymorphism in a population of the blenniid fish Salaria pavo (Risso). Bigger and older males defend nests, whereas smaller and younger males mimic female nuptial coloration and behavior to gain access to nests and sneak fertilizations. In this population, sex-role reversal in courtship also occurs (i.e., females are the courting sex). Immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization were used to examine the production of arginine vasotocin (AVT) peptide and messenger RNA, respectively. The expression of AVT mRNA on a per-cell basis was correlated with mating behavior, rather than with sex morphotype, which suggests that the greater level of AVT mRNA expression in females and sneakers is correlated with the production of courtship behavior. On the other hand, the number and size of AVT peptide-producing cells in both male types is higher or larger, respectively, than in females, which suggests that it is correlated with sex morphotype, rather than with mating behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Optimality of collective choices: a stochastic approach.

Amplifying communication is a characteristic of group-living animals. This study is concerned with food recruitment by chemical means, known to be associated with foraging in most ant colonies but also with defence or nest moving. A stochastic approach of collective choices made by ants faced with different sources is developed to account for the fluctuations inherent to the recruitment process. It has been established that ants are able to optimize their foraging by selecting the most rewarding source. Our results not only confirm that selection is the result of a trail modulation according to food quality but also show the existence of an optimal quantity of laid pheromone for which the selection of a source is at the maximum, whatever the difference between the two sources might be. In terms of colony size, large colonies more easily focus their activity on one source. Moreover, the selection of the rich source is more efficient if many individuals lay small quantities of pheromone, instead of a small group of individuals laying a higher trail amount. These properties due to the stochasticity of the recruitment process can be extended to other social phenomena in which competition between different sources of information occurs.

Animal Communication↗
PubMed1999

Alpha-1-noradrenergic neurotransmission, corticosterone, and behavioral depression.

BACKGROUND: Impaired brain alpha-1 noradrenergic neurotransmission has been implicated in some of the symptoms of depressive illness but has been difficult to investigate experimentally because of the insensitivity of current animal models of depression. The present experiment addressed this problem by examining the effects of pharmacologic blockade and corticosteroid-induced desensitization of alpha-1 receptors on two newer, more sensitive models in mice: the inhibition of nest-leaving and the tail suspension tests (TST). METHODS: Male mice were administered either prazosin, betaxolol, atipamezole, corticosterone, or repeated restraint stress prior to measurement of either nest-leaving or TST. General behavioral function was assessed in horizontal wire, swim, and latency to escape footshock tests. RESULTS: Prazosin increased depressive behavior in the nest-leaving and TSTs, whereas corticosterone and restraint stress did so only in the more sensitive nest-leaving test. Betaxolol also reduced nest-leaving, suggestive of an alpha-1 beta-1 receptor synergy. The effects of these agents could not be attributed to hypotension, sedation, or general behavioral impairment. CONCLUSIONS: The fact that a reduction in alpha-1 noradrenergic neurotransmission increases depressive behavior, coupled with the fact that this change can result from elevated corticosteroid secretion, provides further support for a role of this factor in depressive illness. As not all alpha-1 functions are reduced in depression, it is likely that only a subgroup or specific locality of alpha-1 receptors are affected.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗
PubMed1998

Olfactory preference for mother over home nest shavings by newborn rats.

The developmental course and behavioral processes by which infant rats come to prefer one of two prominent natural odors within their rearing environment, those of their mother and home nest shavings, was studied. Pups as young as 4-5 days and as old as 9-10 days prefer their mother's odor that of their home nest shavings in a two-choice test chamber; pups deprived overnight prior to testing express that preference more strongly than nondeprived littermates when the mother is awake, but not when anesthetized. Encountering maternal and shavings odors in a two-choice paradigm engages a behavioral sequence that progresses from arousal and active sampling of both odors during the establishment of preference to increased mouthing after the choice has been made. A .5 degrees C thermal gradient augments the maternal preference response from 4-5 days of age on, and is necessary to it in 2-day-olds. One-day-old pups do not express a preference for their mothers in our test apparatus on the basis of odor even with the addition of a .5 degrees C thermal gradient, suggesting that preference for the odor of mother over home shavings may be acquired between 1 and 2 days of age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2000

Gender-related behavior during childhood and associations with adult abdominal obesity: a nested case-control study in women.

Abdominal obesity affects many aspects of women's health, and recent studies indicate that hyperandrogenicity (HA) may contribute to the excess of body fat in women. As hormone behavior research attributes male-like play patterns in childhood to the effects of androgens, the aim of the present study was to assess the potential association of such behavior with obesity in adult women. In a randomly selected sample of 40-year-old women (n = 1464), 78% volunteered to respond to a questionnaire collecting information on the effect of other variables on childhood behavior. Self-reported body weight, height, and waist and hip circumferences were used to calculate body mass index (BMI) and waist/hip ratio (WHR). Age at menarche showed an inverse association with overweight (BMI > or = 25) (odds ratio [OR] = 0.82). Reports of gender-related behavior as a child showed that playing with girls and girl toys was negatively related to both overweight and abdominal obesity (WHR > or = 0.85). Among respondents who were overweight, relationships were found for playing with boys (OR = 0.90) and fighting (OR = 1.70). The OR of playing with boy toys and fighting among respondents with abdominal obesity were increased 1.12 and 1.65, respectively. Interests in athletics as a child seemed to decrease the risk for overweight (OR = 0.89) and abdominal obesity (OR = 0.91). Furthermore, dose-response analysis between the individual exposure levels and the OR for overweight showed a negative trend for playing with girls (p = 0.002) and girl toys (p = 0.017) and a positive trend for playing with boys (p = 0.011) and fighting (p = 0.031). Among respondents with abdominal obesity, positive dose-response effects were found for playing with boys (p = 0.026) and boy toys (p = 0.036) and fighting (p = 0.008). Thus, women with an elevated WHR showed a preference to play with boys and boy toys and also fought frequently as children. This might be a sign of a relative HA in childhood ("tomboyism"). These preliminary observations suggest that HA may originate in childhood.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1981

Alterations of maternal behaviors of female rats caring for malnourished pups.

The maternal care received by rat pups malnourished by being rotated between lactating females and nonlactating foster mothers was examined. During the 1st 2 weeks after birth there were no differences in maternal care, but during the 3rd week females caring for pups fed only 8 hr daily nursed more and built better nests than females caring for pups fed 16 or 24 hr. These differences in maternal care may interact with and diminish any effects of nutritional deprivation in the pups.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Influence of stimuli from chicks on behavior and concentrations of plasma prolactin and luteinizing hormone in incubating hens.

Removal of eggs from the nests of incubating birds or substitution of eggs for chicks disrupts incubation behavior and induces changes in the secretion of prolactin and luteinizing hormone (LH). The aim of the present study was to determine how different stimuli, such as physical contact with eggs and tactile, visual, and/or auditory cues from chicks, interact to control the transition between incubation and brooding and to induce changes in prolactin and LH plasma concentrations. Physical contact with chicks, in the presence or absence of eggs, induced brooding behavior and an immediate fall in plasma prolactin concentration and a gradual increase in LH concentration. Vocalizations, particularly clucking and food calls, increased rapidly while incubation and nest attachment disappeared slowly. No change in plasma prolactin or LH concentration was observed in incubating hens which could hear and see or only hear chicks. These incubating hens showed no interest in chicks and continued to incubate persistently. To conclude, tactile stimuli, alone or in combination with visual and/or auditory stimuli from newly hatched chicks, are the only cues that induce the transition from incubation to brooding and the associated decrease in prolactin secretion and increase in LH secretion.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1986

Effect of preoptic region implants of dilute estradiol on the maternal behavior of ovariectomized, nulliparous rats.

Estrogen implanted directly into the medial preoptic region of pregnant Charles River Sprague-Dawley rats hysterectomized and ovariectomized on Day 16 of gestation mimics the effects of systemic estrogen treatment at this time by reducing the latency to respond to foster pups with maternal behavior (Numan, Rosenblatt, and Komisaruk, 1977). The present report describes the pup-directed responses of ovariectomized, nulliparous Zivic-Miller Sprague-Dawley rats that received bilateral medial preoptic implants of either cholesterol (n = 11) or estradiol diluted 1:10 with cholesterol (n = 11). Two days after treatment these animals were housed with three foster pups: their responsivity to pups and quality of nests built were then assessed, at first hourly and then daily. Rats receiving intracranial estradiol required significantly shorter exposures to pups than did cholesterol-treated animals before initiating carrying and grouping of 3 dispersed pups in a maternal nest during a 15-min test. On other measures, however, the groups did not differ (e.g., proportion grouping pups overnight, time required to complete retrieval of pups to the nest, time required to rebuild a disrupted nest). Animals treated with cholesterol and animals with estradiol implants did not differ in uterine weight at the time of sacrifice, suggesting that estrogen did not leak, even from this well-vascularized implant site, into the circulation. Thus, as in the pregnant animal, the facilitating effects of estrogen on maternal behavior can be mediated through the medial preoptic region; however, the effects were evident only when a test requiring retrieval of several pups within an arbitrarily short interval was given.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Changes in immobility responses in rat pups with maternal stimuli.

Presentation of maternal stimuli to an isolated rat pup results in what has been called "comfort" responses, as indicated by both behavioral and physiological quieting. This experiment investigated the role of passive maternal stimuli on tonic immobility and dorsal immobility in 9- and 16-day-old rat pups. Although these stimuli appeared ineffective in inducing tonic immobility, presentation of the mother did produce an increase in duration of dorsal immobility in 16-day-old pups. This increase in the dorsal immobility response may reduce struggling in the presence of the mother and thereby aid the mother in transporting the infant back to the nest.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Response of male and female Siberian hamsters towards pups.

The influence of sex, reproductive maturity, and parental experience on the behavior of Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus sungorus) toward strange pups was examined in this study. Immature, mature, or parentally experienced male and female Siberian hamsters were presented with 3- to 8-day-old pups. We recorded pup carrying during the initial 10 min, nesting with pups after 8 or 14 h, and attacking pups during the test period. Among inexperienced animals, more mature males attacked pups than did immature males or mature females. Parental experience significantly decreased pup attacks by males and increased nesting with pups by both males and females. Repeated testing did not modify the responses to pups. We conclude that in Siberian hamsters both caretaking and aggressive responses to pups may be shown by immature and mature animals of both sexes. Parental experience resulted in increased caretaking by males and females and decreased aggressive responses by males.

Aggression↗
PubMed2006

Swim test immobility in a genetic rat model of depression is modified by maternal environment: a cross-foster study.

The Flinders sensitive line (FSL) genetic animal model of depression exhibits marked immobility during forced swimming, an accepted index of depressive like behavior in rodent depression models. The present experiment tested the hypothesis that swim test behavior in the FSL rats is influenced in part by early experience, specifically maternal environment. Male FSL and control Flinders resistant line (FRL) pups were cross fostered onto dams of the same or complementary strain. Nest quality and dam behavior during pup retrieval were measured on PN5 and PN8, and swim test behavior assessed in the adult males on PN60. FSL rats reared by foster FRL dams were significantly less immobile than FSL rats raised by FSL dams, but still significantly more immobile that the two FRL groups, which did not differ from each other. FSL dams took significantly longer to retrieve their pups and dropped them more often than the FRL control dams. Moreover, strain differences in maternal retrieval behavior significantly predicted later swim test immobility in the FSL animals. These findings suggest that swim test immobility in the FSL rats is modified by maternal environment. In contrast, the FRL control rats were relatively insensitive to the influence of maternal environment. The FSL model offers promise for understanding the interactions of genetic vulnerabilities and environmental influences in the etiology of clinical depression.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Activity patterns in rats (Rattus norvegicus) as a function of the cost of access to four resources.

Patterns of eating, drinking, wheel running, and nesting were recorded in 2 experiments in which rats (Rattus norvegicus) lived in a laboratory environment that provided food, water, a running wheel, and a nest box. Access to each resource was contingent on the completion of a fixed ratio of bar presses and once earned remained available until the resource was not used for 10 consecutive min. In all cases an increase in the access price of a resource produced a decrease in the frequency with which the resource was accessed. This reduction in bout frequency was countered by an increase in bout size, which was compensatory for eating and nearly so for drinking, but which was only partially compensatory for wheel running. Nest bout size did not change significantly as nest price increased. The bout patterns of these 4 activities changed independently of one another, and the probabilities of behavioral transitions did not indicate strong links between any pairs of activities.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

A testosterone-mediated trade-off between parental and sexual effort in male mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).

Effects of testosterone (T) on parental behavior of male Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) were examined. After undergoing gonadectomy, castrated males were implanted with empty capsules or capsules containing T; sham-operated males were implanted with empty Silastic capsules. Subsequently, each male was paired with a pregnant female, and after delivery, families were observed 15 min/day for 20 days. Gonadectomized males without T spent more time in contact with, huddling over, and licking pups than did either sham-operated males or gonadectomized males with T. When given a choice between nest sites and displaced pups, females and males with low T preferred pups, whereas intact males and castrated males with T preferred nest sites. The findings are consistent with E. D. Ketterson and V. Nolan's (1994) hypothesis implicating T in mediating trade-offs between parental and sexual effort.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2006

Neither reduced photoperiod, nor female-related social cues, nor increased maternal thermal stress result in a paternally responsive Phodopus sungorus male.

Neither reduced photoperiod, nor female-related social cues, nor increased maternal thermal stress result in a paternally responsive Phodopus sungorus male. Physiol Behav [Volume # (Issue #)] 000-000, 2006. -Under laboratory conditions, P. sungorus males are not needed for pup survival and growth and are unresponsive to an experimentally displaced pup. However, males have been found with young pups late in the breeding season, and other laboratories have found evidence for biparental care. Thus, paternal behavior might be expressed in response to relevant social and environmental cues. Reduced photoperiod (from 14L:10D to 12L:12D), increased ambient temperature (from 18 to 23 degrees C) and pairing with an obligate biparental heterospecific female (to remove behavioral barriers to pup contact) were tested. Although within-animal responsiveness during a standardized pup displacement increased under reduced photoperiod, and pup retrieval occurred more often in the heterospecific pairing, paternal responsiveness scores remained negative, and typical of the species, rather than positive, and indicative of paternal responsiveness. Thus, P. sungorus males did not meet criteria for paternal responsiveness in terms of nest attendance, retrieval rates, or positive paternal responsiveness scores. Pup survival and development were not affected. In spite of their seasonal proximity to pups, there is no evidence that these environmental cues and manipulations are sufficient to result in biparental care.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Affiliation between the sexes in common grackles i. specificity and seasonal progression.

Heterosexual affiliation involves behavioral mechanisms that limit bond membership and regulate partners interactions. Among Common Grackles, Quiscalus quiscula, two characteristic activities of partners, following and vocal answering, develop during group activities and promote the individual specificity of pair bonds. Pairs differ substantially in the durations and seasonal timing of the early stages of nesting activities and in the male's fidelity to his mate through incubation. After the relatively abrupt start of intensive nest-building, the seasonal course of a pair's behavior becomes more regular, an indication that this transition in the female's state is critical in pacing the pair's breeding activities. Aggression serves primarily to adjust the spatial relationships of individuals, both between partners and between unpaired birds. males that deserted their mates during incubation had earlier performed precopulatory displays to other males.

Aggression↗
PubMed2006

Parent birds assess nest predation risk and adjust their reproductive strategies.

Avian life history theory has long assumed that nest predation plays a minor role in shaping reproductive strategies. Yet, this assumption remains conspicuously untested by broad experiments that alter environmental risk of nest predation, despite the fact that nest predation is a major source of reproductive failure. Here, we examined whether parents can assess experimentally reduced nest predation risk and alter their reproductive strategies. We experimentally reduced nest predation risk and show that in safer environments parents increased investment in young through increased egg size, clutch mass, and the rate they fed nestlings. Parents also increased investment in female condition by increasing the rates that males fed incubating females at the nest, and decreasing the time that females spent incubating. These results demonstrate that birds can assess nest predation risk at large and that nest predation plays a key role in the expression of avian reproductive strategies.

Adaptation, Physiological↗