Temporary Inactivation of Ventral Tegmental Area Neurons With Either Muscimol or Baclofen Reversibly Disrupts Maternal Behavior in Rats Through Different Underlying Mechanisms.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of inactivation of ventral tegmental area (VTA) projection neurons, while sparing fibers of passage, on maternal behavior in rats. Because VTA neurons contain GABA-A and GABA-B receptors, the effects of muscimol or baclofen were studied. Although...

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Published in:Behavioral Neuroscience Vol. 123; no. 4; pp. 740 - 752
Main Authors: Numan, Michael, Stolzenberg, Danielle S., Dellevigne, Amanda A.
Format: Article
Published: American Psychological Association August 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: August 2009
      vid: 123
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      pub: American Psychological Association
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        10.1037/a0016204
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        atl: Temporary Inactivation of Ventral Tegmental Area Neurons With Either Muscimol or Baclofen Reversibly Disrupts Maternal Behavior in Rats Through Different Underlying Mechanisms.
      aug:
        au:
          Numan, Michael
          Stolzenberg, Danielle S.
          Dellevigne, Amanda A.
      su:
        Laboratory rats
        Parental behavior in animals
        Brain function localization
      sug:
        subj:
          Laboratory rats
          Parental behavior in animals
          Brain function localization
      ab: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of inactivation of ventral tegmental area (VTA) projection neurons, while sparing fibers of passage, on maternal behavior in rats. Because VTA neurons contain GABA-A and GABA-B receptors, the effects of muscimol or baclofen were studied. Although bilateral injections of either drug into the VTA disrupted maternal behavior, it is likely that they did so through different underlying mechanisms. Muscimol disrupted both retrieval of pups and nursing behavior, while causing stereotyped motor activity. Baclofen disrupted retrieval behavior without affecting nursing behavior, and control injections of baclofen into the region dorsal to VTA were ineffective. The effects of VTA baclofen on maternal behavior are similar to the effects of interference with mesolimbic dopamine (DA) function. The case is made that muscimol probably caused a hyper-excitation of VTA DA neurons through a process of disinhibition. In contrast, baclofen may have depressed the activity of all VTA projection neurons, including VTA DA neurons. Baclofen is a promising tool to explore whether medial preoptic area neurons interact with VTA neurons to control active maternal responses. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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