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Hypothalamic knife cuts dissociate maternal behaviors, sexual receptivity, and estrous cyclicity in female hamsters.
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Effects of ethanol consumption on maternal behavior in the female rat.
Female rats consuming 30% ethanol (v/v) for 30 days prior to and during gestation, and during the post-partum period were tested for maternal behavior with either their own pups or pups provided by normal foster mothers. When tested with their own pups, ethanol consuming females displayed significant deficits in maternal behavior. However, when a second group of ethanol consuming females were tested with normal pups, the females displayed maternal behavior comparable to that of control females. These data suggest that gestational ethanol consumption per se does not produce a deficit in the ability to display maternal behavior. Possibly, due to ethanol related changes in the pup's own characteristics, they became a less attractive stimulus in eliciting the display of maternal behaviors from their mothers.
Thermoregulatory and maternal nestbuilding in Syrian hamsters: interaction of ovarian steroids and energy demand.
To investigate the relationship between energy demand, ovarian hormones and behavioral thermoregulation, we measured nestbuilding of female Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) under conditions where energy demand and circulating ovarian hormone levels varied. Hamsters increased nestbuilding under conditions of chronically elevated estradiol and progesterone levels (late gestation; ovariectomized animals treated with estradiol +/- progesterone) and increased energy demand (late gestation or cold exposure). When hormone treatments were withdrawn, hamsters gained weight and reduced nestbuilding activity. Nestbuilding was not affected by lactation (characterized by low ovarian steroid levels and high energy demand) or by estrous cycle phase (characterized by relatively transient changes in ovarian steroid levels and subtle changes in energy demand). Thus, nestbuilding in Syrian hamsters was responsive to increased energy demand from cold exposure, late gestation, and to ovarian hormones. However, during lactation and estrous cycles, nestbuilding did not always change predictably according to known changes in energy expenditure and steroid hormone levels. Thus, levels of nestbuilding are influenced by factors in addition to ovarian hormones and energy expenditure under some circumstances.
Effects of chlordiazepoxide on maternal aggression in mice depend on experience of resident and sex of intruder.
Lactating mice respond differentially to intruders of differing sex, displaying defensive attack against the male and offensive attack against the female. Such a phenotypic dichotomy appears to have adaptive value in that unfamiliar males pose a much greater threat to the offspring than do females. The present study examined the effects of the benzodiazepine anxiolytic chlordiazepoxide (CDP) (2.5-10.0 mg/kg) on this differential response pattern in aggression-naive (nonscreened) (NS) and aggression-experienced (screened) (S) lactating female mice (Mus musculus domesticus) confronting intruders of either sex in a 10-min test. This procedure was used to evaluate the influence of both the type of opponent and previous aggressive experience on basal behavioural profiles and drug action. Results showed that both intruder sex and prior screening for attack modulated the behaviour of lactating females toward intruders. In turn, both variables strongly influenced CDP effects on maternal aggression. In particular, in S dams, CDP dose-dependently increased maternal attack against males but decreased attack against female intruders. Conversely, in NS dams, CDP decreased attack (and fear) against males but did not affect it against females. In both S and NS conditions, CDP modified the attack strategy of lactating females against the male, switching it from a defensive to an offensive pattern. Exploration, social investigation, eating, and immobility were differentially affected by the drug treatment, depending on screening and/or intruder sex condition. These differential effects of CDP between S and NS conditions, toward either male or female intruders, cannot be fully explained by differences in the baseline levels of these behaviours. Alternative hypotheses are discussed. These findings demonstrate that the effects of CDP on maternal attack behaviour depend on not only the drug but also the object of attack, and hence the function of attack and the prior experience of the attacker.
Effects of cannabis drugs on social behaviour of laboratory rodents.
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Effects of handling on maternal behaviour in the mouse (Mus musculus): an observational study.
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Aggression in the lactating rat: effects of intruder age and test arena.
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Neurons in the lateral subdivision of the habenular complex mediate the hormonal onset of maternal behavior in rats.
Expanding on research showing that radio-frequency-induced lesions of the habenular complex disrupt the hormonal onset of maternal behavior in rats, we explored the importance of neurons in the lateral (Lhb) subdivision of the habenular complex for the onset of maternal behavior. On Day 12 of pregnancy, bilateral cytotoxic lesions were produced in the Lhb with kainic acid or, as a control, just dorsal in the medial hippocampus. A 3rd group had radio-frequency-induced Lhb and medial (Mhb) lesions. On Day 16 of pregnancy, Ss were hysterectomized-ovariectomized, given estradiol, and tested 48 hr later for 10 days. Neuroanatomical tracing with fluoro-gold was then used to directly quantify the extent and location of Lhb neuron loss and to verify that Mhb neurons were intact. Cytotoxic lesions of the entire Lhb prevented the onset of all components of maternal behavior compared with controls. Results show that neurons in the Lhb, not the Mhb, are important for onset of maternal behavior in rats.
Induction of parental behavior in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).
The Japanese quail is a precocial species, and because of its relatively rapid development, sexual maturation in about 40 days after hatching, and prolific breeding capacity, it promises to become an organism well suited for avian research. One stumbling block has been the inability to induce, with any consistency, parental behavior in laboratory stocks. The study reported herein demonstrates a method for establishing a self-perpetuating population under seminaturalistic conditions. In addition, given the limitions of finite space, chick mortality appears to have been mostly density dependent, thus indicating that the increase in the size of the population is circumscribed in part by population density.
Territory size, breeding time and mating perference in the Arctic skua.
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Effects of haloperidol and propranolol on rats' transport response to maternal stimuli.
Presentation of maternal stimuli to mother- or littermate-deprived 16-day-old rat pups strengthens the transport response. Administration of varying doses of haloperidol failed to attenuate this response potentiation. In contrast, administration of varying doses of propranolol blocked response potentiation. It is proposed that under high levels of stress the potentiation of transport response is primarily under the control of beta-noradrenergic systems.
The reproductive behaviour of the pomacentrid fish, Chromis caeruleus.
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Maternal behavior in the primiparous and multiparous golden hamster.
Changes in the normal behavior patterns seen during lactation in the female golden hamster have received relatively little attention in the past (Rowell 1961; Daly 1972). The purpose of this experiment was to characterize and compare maternal behavior in female hamsters during gestation and 24 days of lactation, with their first and second litters. Each was observed for 1/2 h daily, and her behavior recorded every 10 s. Maternal behavior decreased over time in the mothers during both first and second lactations, while "non-maternal" behavior increased. No differences were observed in these measures between the first and second lactation.
Letter: Responses in Pavlovian conditioning studies.
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[Social organization of a band of Talapoins (Miopithecus talapoin) of northeast Gabon].
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The influence of some experimental and genetic factors, including hormones, on the visible courtship behavior of budgerigars. (Melopsittacus).
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[The exploratory behavior in an open field and in a burrowing chamber of rats with different predispositions to stress].
The peculiarities of oriental research behavior and correlation between activities of catecholaminergic and serotoninergic brain systems dependently on their stress resistance degree were investigated in Wistar rats. The experiments showed that resistant (R) to a sound stimulus rats differed from nonresistant (NR) ones by increased research activity under moderate stress in the open field test and by decreased research behavior level in the cell chamber test. The biochemical analysis of biogenic amines in different brain structures revealed increased norepinephrine levels in stress R rats, and increased dopamine and serotonin levels in NR ones. The findings suggest that inborn behavior regulation in animals with different stress resistance is determined by different correlations between serotonin-dopamine and norepinephrine brain systems activities.