Reproductive Experience and Activation of Maternal Memory

The maternal and neurobiological responses of biological mothers and pup-induced maternal virgin rats were compared 55 and 80 days after an initial 2-day maternal experience. When tested for home cage responsiveness after prolonged isolation from young, the biological, primiparous rats displayed sho...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 2006-06, Vol.120 (3), p.676-686
Main Authors: Scanlan, Victoria F, Byrnes, Elizabeth M, Bridges, Robert S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amygdala
Amygdala - metabolism
Animal
Animal ethology
Animal Maternal Behavior
Animal memory
Animal reproduction
Animals
Animals, Newborn
Aves
Behavior, Animal
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Exploratory Behavior - physiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - physiology
Male
Maternal Behavior - physiology
Maternal Behavior - psychology
Maze Learning
Memory
Memory - physiology
Miscellaneous
Neurobiology
Neurosciences
Nucleus Accumbens
Nucleus Accumbens - metabolism
Parity
Pregnancy
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - metabolism
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Reaction Time
Reproduction
Rodents
Time Factors
Vertebrata
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The maternal and neurobiological responses of biological mothers and pup-induced maternal virgin rats were compared 55 and 80 days after an initial 2-day maternal experience. When tested for home cage responsiveness after prolonged isolation from young, the biological, primiparous rats displayed shorter maternal latencies. Primiparous females tested in the presence of pups on the elevated plus-maze displayed increased exploration of the open arms and increased c-Fos expression in the cortical nucleus of the amygdala. Pup exposure and parity also enhanced activation of the nucleus accumbens shell and medial nucleus of the amygdala, respectively. Therefore, although both nulliparous and primiparous rats retain a maternal memory for a prolonged time, the memory and neurochemical response appear stronger in primiparous mothers.
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.120.3.676