Inhibition of the medial amygdala disrupts escalated aggression in lactating female mice after repeated exposure to male intruders.

ABSTRACT: Virgin female laboratory mice readily express pup care when co-housed with dams and pups. However, pup-sensitized virgins fail to express intruder-directed aggression on a single session of testing. To study whether repeated testing would affect the onset and dynamics of maternal or intruder-directed aggression, we tested dams and their accompanying virgins from postpartum day 4 to 6. Repeated testing led to escalated aggression towards male intruders in dams, but virgins never developed aggression. In dams, inhibition of the medial amygdala using DREADD (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs) vectors carrying the hM4Di receptor blocked the expected increase in maternal aggression on the second testing day. Our data support that the onset of maternal aggression is link

SUBMITTER: Abellan-Alvaro M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9481530 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature