| Title: | Differential fos activation in virgin and lactating mice in response to an intruder |
| Address: | "Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, 1117 West Johnson St., Madison WI 53706, USA. nshasen@wisc.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.02.010 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0031-9384 (Print) 0031-9384 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Lactating (L) mice display fierce aggression towards novel, male mice, while virgin (V) mice do not. This study compares patterns of brain activation in V and L mice in response to a novel intruder using immunohistochemical detection of Fos (Fos-IR). Animals were sampled 120 min after either a sham or real 10 min test with a male intruder. L mice were aggressive towards intruders, but V mice were not. In general, Fos-IR for both groups increased with exposure to an intruder, with L mice showing higher increases in Fos-IR than V mice. In only medial preoptic nucleus and ventral portion of bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST) was Fos-IR significantly increased in both groups with testing. In V mice, testing resulted in Fos-IR increases in an additional 10 regions examined that did not reach significance in L mice, including lateral septum, lateral and medial preoptic areas, and anterior hypothalamus. Fos-IR also increased with testing in nine regions unique to L mice, including the mitral and granular layers of accessory olfactory bulb, regions of the amygdala, dorsal BNST, and caudal portions of the hypothalamic attack area. These increases in Fos-IR with testing suggest alterations in the circuitry governing response to pheromonal cues and imply some commonalities between the circuitries governing maternal aggression and intermale aggression. These results support the hypothesis that pregnancy and lactation induce substantial changes in brain circuitry and function; changes that enable maternal defense of offspring by altering the neural response to an intruder male" |
| Keywords: | "Aggression/*physiology Animals Brain/cytology Brain Chemistry/physiology Female Gene Expression Regulation/physiology Genes, fos/*physiology Image Processing, Computer-Assisted Immunohistochemistry Lactation/*physiology/*psychology Male Maternal Behavior/;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineHasen, Nina S Gammie, Stephen C eng R01 MH066086/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ R01 MH066086-04/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ R01MH066086/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ Comparative Study Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. 2005/05/12 Physiol Behav. 2005 Apr 13; 84(5):681-95. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.02.010. Epub 2005 Mar 31" |
