Blood oxygen level-dependent signal responses in corticolimbic 'emotions' circuitry of lactating rats facing intruder threat to pups.

ABSTRACT: Lactating rats must continuously maintain a critical balance between caring for pups and aggressively responding to nest threats. We tested the neural response of lactating females to the presentation of their own pups and novel intruder males using blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging at 7 T. Dams were presented with a single sequence of a control stimulus, pups or a male intruder in one imaging session (n = 7-9). To further determine the selectivity of neural processing, dams were imaged for their response to a male intruder in both the absence and presence of their pups (n = 6). Several maternal cortical and limbic brain regions were significantly activated by intruder presentation but not by pups or a control stimulus. These included the nucleus accumbens,

SUBMITTER: Nephew BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2758821 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature