Chapter 8 - Maternal Stress Adaptations Peripartum: Mom's Innate Anxiety Determines Maternal Care and Aggression
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Selective breeding of rats for high (HAB) and low (LAB) anxiety-related behaviour: A unique model for comorbid depression and social dysfunctions
2023, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsMaternal and affective behaviors of lactating rats reared in overlapping litters
2014, Journal of Physiology ParisCitation Excerpt :In this sense, although maternal anxiolysis has been proposed as a key component of the maternal repertoire (Ferreira et al., 1989; Pereira et al., 2005), it has differential control mechanisms and regulatory factors (Ferreira et al., 2002; Lonstein, 2005a, 2007). Besides, it has been shown that lactating rats (Bosch et al., 2006; Neumann and Bosch, 2008) and mice (Kessler et al., 2011) selectively bred for high anxiety-like behavior, nurse pups more frequently, leave the nest less often, and are more motivated to retrieve pups than rats selected for low anxiety-like behavior. The fact that being reared in overlapped litters modified postpartum females’ anxiety but not their maternal aggression, stresses the independence in the regulation of both affective behaviors.
The parental brain: Transformations and adaptations
2012, Physiology and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :In addition to showing fewer signs of stress in the open field, lower levels of fos-immunoreactivity were observed in the basolateral amygdala and the hippocampus CA3 area. In a second experiment with nulliparous, primiparaous, and multiparous animals, maternal animals exhibited less fos immunoreactivity in response to restraint stress [90]. Long-term effects on emotional responses were observed when multiparous, primiparous and nulliparous rats were repeatedly tested on an elevated plus maze every four months; although no differences were observed at six months, the primiparous animals exhibited less anxiety than the nulliparous animals at 10, 14, 18 and 22 month assessments and the multiparous animals spent more time in the open arms at 10 and 14 months [59].
Parental precaution: Neurobiological means and adaptive ends
2011, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :Given the precautionary themes characteristic of parental preoccupations with child safety (Leckman et al., 1999; see Section 9), it seems that a certain measure of heightened stress reactivity in early parenting, particularly in response to cues of potential child threat, facilitates care and defense of offspring (Stallings et al., 2001). The early postpartum period is characterized by relatively high levels of cortisol and emotional lability (Fleming et al., 1987), but affiliation with infants during this period simultaneously increases parental reward (Strathearn et al., 2008, 2009) and attenuates parental anxiety (Neumann and Bosch, 2008). Szechtman and Woody (2004) noted that security motivation differs from other motivational states in that it must be terminated by endogenously generated satiety signals—the environment is literally incapable of providing conclusive safety cues regarding potential hazards (e.g. the lion may yet lurk).
Maternal nurturing is dependent on her innate anxiety: The behavioral roles of brain oxytocin and vasopressin
2011, Hormones and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :Thus, OXT released within the PVN during the maternal defense test might exert a local inhibitory effect on CRF neurons resulting in an acute anxiolytic effect. This might be a necessary condition for HAB dams to overcome their innate anxiety and, therefore, to further promote aggressive behavior against an intruder (Bosch and Neumann, 2008b). With respect to increased OXT release within the CeA during the display of maternal aggression, locally-released OXT might modulate local neuronal circuitries that are involved in stress recognition (Ebner et al., 2005; Huber et al., 2005; Kirsch et al., 2005), which may contribute to the aggressive response of HAB dams.
Changes in anxiety and cognition due to reproductive experience: A review of data from rodent and human mothers
2010, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :In this section, we will discuss literature indicating that pregnancy and reproductive experience decrease anxiety and enhance cognition; a summary of this literature can be found in Table 1. During pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period there is a general dampening of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may work to protect mother and offspring from the adverse effects of stress (for recent reviews see Neumann and Bosch, 2007; Brunton and Russell, 2008; Brunton et al., 2008). Females treated with a pregnancy-mimicking regimen of estrogen and progesterone have attenuated levels of plasma corticosterone after noise stress, an effect that is likely modulated by Oxt receptor activity (Windle et al., 2006).