Comparison of c-Fos expression in brain regions involved in maternal behavior of virgin and lactating female mice

Matsushita, Nao; Muroi, Yoshikage; Kinoshita, Kenichi; Ishii, Toshiaki

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2015.02.003

Cited by 29 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In spite of the recognized importance of the VTA in MB in the rat and other mammals, and Stack et al (2002), reported no induction of FOS in VTA in lactating rats exposed to pups compared to controls. This is surprising since in lactating mice (Matsuchita et al, 2015) and rabbits (present report) interaction with pups induces a significant increase of FOS cells in VTA and also in FOS/TH-ir cells. Therefore this suggests an important difference between species for this structure.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

Dopaminergic activation anticipates daily nursing in the rabbit

Aguirre

Meza

Caba

2017

Eur J of Neuroscience

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Maternal care is a motivated behavior and in the rabbit it is restricted to the spontaneous return of the mother to nurse her pups for just a few minutes once a day. Previously we have reported neural activation of brain areas and neuroendocrine cells after nursing. However, this daily spontaneous return suggests that the mother is in a high motivational state to nurse her pups. Here we hypothesized that during anticipation of nursing there is an activation of dopaminergic neurons of the mesolimbic system and in their target areas. Then we explored, by the expression of FOS protein, possible activation of the mesolimbic system as well as dopaminergic cells of the A10 cell group before and after nursing and in control does. Additionally, we measured FOS expression in the preoptic area and lateral septum. We found a significant increase of FOS before nursing, and a further increase after nursing, in the mesolimbic system and dopaminergic cells as well as in the preoptic area and lateral septum. Interestingly, the medial prefrontal area shows an intense activation during anticipation of nursing, which remains after nursing. We conclude that the activation of the mesolimbic system before nursing is related to the high locomotor behavior prior to the next nursing bout and support the proposal that the mother is in a high motivational state at the time of returning to the nest. The additional activation after nursing can be related to the neuroendocrine and neural consequences of the milk ejection reflex by suckling.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

Dopaminergic activation anticipates daily nursing in the rabbit

Aguirre

Meza

Caba

2017

Eur J of Neuroscience

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“…In line with this idea, we found that the NA, which represents a main projection of the mPOA/vBNST, was similarly activated when OL mothers were tested with newborns or juveniles. Accordingly, several studies have shown that the interaction with pups is associated with c‐Fos expression in the NA . Moreover, Stack et al showed that unilateral knife cuts or NMDA‐induced lesions in the mPOA/vBNST caused an ipsilateral reduction in maternal behaviour‐induced c‐Fos expression in the NA shell, indicating that the activity in this region depends on the functional connection with these critical regions for the expression of maternal care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raising overlapping litters: Differential activation of rat maternal neural circuitry after interacting with newborn or juvenile pups

Pose

Zuluaga

Ferreño

et al. 2019

J Neuroendocrinology

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The maternal behaviour of a rat dynamically changes during the postpartum period, adjusting to the characteristics and physiological needs of the pups. This adaptation has been attributed to functional modifications in the maternal circuitry. Maternal behaviour can also flexibly adapt according to different litter compositions. Thus, mothers with two overlapping litters can concurrently take care of neonate and juvenile pups, mostly directing their attention to the newborns. We hypothesised that the maternal circuitry of these mothers would show a differential activation pattern after interacting with pups depending on the developmental stage of their offspring. Thus, we evaluated the activation of several areas of the maternal circuitry in mothers of overlapping litters, using c‐Fos immunoreactivity as a marker of neuronal activation, after interacting with newborns or juveniles. The results showed that mothers with overlapping litters display different behavioural responses towards their newborn and their juvenile pups. Interestingly, these behavioural displays co‐occurred with specific patterns of activation of the maternal neural circuitry. Thus, a similar expression of c‐Fos was observed in some key brain areas of mothers that interacted with newborns or juveniles, such as the medial preoptic area and the nucleus accumbens, whereas a differential activation was quantified in the ventral region of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the infralimbic and prelimbic subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex and the basolateral and medial nuclei of the amygdala. We posit that the specific profile of activation of the neural circuitry controlling maternal behaviour in mothers with overlapping litters enables dams to respond adequately to the newborn and the juvenile pups.

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“…By contrast to our hypothesis, we found double‐labelled Fos/DA cells under all conditions, and no significant increase in this double‐labelling in the pup‐exposed females. Although there is no previous report that has explored this issue in the rat, in the mouse and the rabbit, there is a significant Fos/DA increase in response to mother‐pup interaction or by expectancy to interact with pups after 24 hours of separation . This discrepancy across species is puzzling because there is an increase in dopamine release in response to pup‐stimuli in the nucleus accumbens of postpartum and hormone‐treated female rats .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, despite the above evidence, the execution of maternal behaviour in lactating rats by pup exposure apparently does not activate VTA cells when using Fos protein as an index of cell activation . By contrast, recent work indicates that, in other species, such pup‐induced activation does occur; for example, exposure to pups induces Fos in the VTA in lactating mice and rabbits . The reasons for these differences may not be related to species in question but may depend on methodological differences in study design because, in the two rat studies, mothers were separated from their offspring for a 24‐hour or 48‐hour period prior to exposure, which is a procedure that was not adopted in the other studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Maternal care activates the ventral tegmental area but not dopaminergic cells in the rat

Caba

Melo

Fleming

et al. 2019

J Neuroendocrinology

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The ventral tegmental area (VTA), together with the preoptic area, is part of a neural circuit necessary for the expression of maternal behaviour (MB); destruction of either area disrupts MB in postpartum rats. Central to the proposal of VTA activation are dopaminergic cells, for which the cell bodies lie in the VTA and project to forebrain structures. This mesolimbic system is a motivational circuit involved in rewarding behaviours such as sex and MB. Despite their recognised importance, surprisingly, unlike the preoptic area, there are no anatomical descriptions of the pattern of VTA activation or of the dopaminergic cell activation, specifically in relation to MB in the rat. In the present study, we explore the possible activation (as indicated by Fos protein via immunohistochemistry) of the anterior and medial portions of the VTA and in the dopaminergic cells in these regions, as well as in the medial preoptic area, in lactating rats, at postpartum day 7 (after a 12‐hour mother/pups separation), and in dioestrous females. After 12 hours, mothers were perfused at that moment or after a 90 minutes of interaction, or not, with their pups. We found a strong significant Fos induction in both the preoptic area and in the anterior portion of VTA in dams that interacted with their pups. The number of dopaminergic cells that coexpressed Fos did not differ across groups. Additionally, we determined Fos and GABA colocalisation in the anterior part of the VTA and found dense GABAergic processes, possibly varicosities, in the area of increased Fos expression. The results of the present study support a proposed GABAergic pathway from medial preoptic area to VTA cells, critical for the expression of MB. Future experiments are warranted to explore the neurochemical identity of the Fos and no‐Fos expressing cells that are recipients of GABAergic processes in the VTA, aiming to better understand the neural circuitry of the VTA in relation to MB.

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Comparison of c-Fos expression in brain regions involved in maternal behavior of virgin and lactating female mice

Cited by 29 publications

References 32 publications

Dopaminergic activation anticipates daily nursing in the rabbit

Dopaminergic activation anticipates daily nursing in the rabbit

Raising overlapping litters: Differential activation of rat maternal neural circuitry after interacting with newborn or juvenile pups

Maternal care activates the ventral tegmental area but not dopaminergic cells in the rat

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