Oxytocin Receptor Activity in the Ventrocaudal Periaqueductal Gray Modulates Anxiety-Related Behavior in Postpartum Rats.
Postpartum rats are less anxious than diestrous virgin females, a phenomenon requiring that mothers have recent contact with their infants. Oxytocin (OT) is one of many neurochemicals released intracerebrally while mothers interact with infants, and we investigated whether OT receptor activity in th...
| Published in: | Behavioral Neuroscience Vol. 122; no. 3; pp. 618 - 629 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
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American Psychological Association
June 2008
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=506800803&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 506800803 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 07357044 BEN jtl: Behavioral Neuroscience issn: 07357044 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: June 2008 vid: 122 iid: 3 pid: 34 pub: American Psychological Association artinfo: ui: 506800803 10.1037/0735-7044.122.3.618 ppf: 618 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Oxytocin Receptor Activity in the Ventrocaudal Periaqueductal Gray Modulates Anxiety-Related Behavior in Postpartum Rats. aug: au: Figueira, Rayson J. Peabody, Mitchell F. Lonstein, Joseph S. su: Parental behavior in animals Oxytocin Laboratory rats Brain function localization sug: subj: Parental behavior in animals Oxytocin Laboratory rats Brain function localization ab: Postpartum rats are less anxious than diestrous virgin females, a phenomenon requiring that mothers have recent contact with their infants. Oxytocin (OT) is one of many neurochemicals released intracerebrally while mothers interact with infants, and we investigated whether OT receptor activity in the ventrocaudal periaqueductal gray (cPAGv) contributes to mothers' reduced anxiety. Infusion of the highly specific OT receptor antagonist, desGly-NH2,d(CH2)5[D-Tyr2,Thr4]OVT, into the cPAGv reduced the percentage of time dams spent in the open arms of an elevated plus-maze, but had no effect on the open-arm behavior of diestrous virgins. Conversely, after separating dams from their litters for 4 hr to increase anxiety, a lower (2 ng) but not higher (5 ng) dose of OT infused into each hemisphere of the cPAGv doubled the percentage of time dams spent in open arms, but did not do so in virgins. OTergic manipulations inconsistently affected risk-assessment behaviors (stretch-attend postures, head dips) in both virgins and dams. Therefore, OT receptor activation in the cPAGv is an important consequence of contact with infants that reduces some anxiety-related behaviors in mother rats. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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