Document Detail


Motherhood induces and maintains behavioral and neural plasticity across the lifespan in the rat.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18074214     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Maternal behavior is multidimensional, encompassing many facets beyond the direct care of the young. Formerly unfamiliar activities are required of the mother. These include behaviors such as retrieving, grouping, crouching-over, and licking young, and protecting them against predators, together with enhancements in other behaviors, such as nest building, foraging, and aggression (inter/intra-species, predatory, etc.). When caring for young, the mother must strike a seemingly lose-lose bargain: leave the relative safety of the nest and her helpless offspring to forage for food and resources where predators await both mother and her vulnerable young, or remain entrenched and safe, thereby ensuring a slow and inexorable fate. Two predictions thus arise from this maternal cost-benefit ratio: first, there may be enhancements in behaviors on which the female relies, for example, predation and spatial ability, used for acquiring food and resources and for navigating her environment. Second, there may be reductions in the fear and anxiety inherent to the decision to leave the nest and to forage in an unforgiving environment where encounters with predators or reluctant/resistant prey await. There is overwhelming support for both hypotheses, with improvements in learning and memory accompanied by a diminution in stress responses and anxiety. The current review will examine the background for the phenomenon that is the maternal brain, and recent relevant data. In sum, the data indicate a remarkable set of changes that take place in the maternal (and, to a lesser extent, the paternal), brain, arguably, for the natural, simple but singular experience of reproduction.
Authors:
Craig Howard Kinsley; Massimo Bardi; Kate Karelina; Brandi Rima; Lillian Christon; Julia Friedenberg; Garrett Griffin
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Archives of sexual behavior     Volume:  37     ISSN:  0004-0002     ISO Abbreviation:  Arch Sex Behav     Publication Date:  2008 Feb 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-01-23     Completed Date:  2008-06-18     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  1273516     Medline TA:  Arch Sex Behav     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  43-56     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Center for Neuroscience (B-326/328), Gottwald Science Center, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA. ckinsley@richmond.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Aging / physiology*
Animals
Appetitive Behavior / physiology
Association Learning / physiology
Brain / physiology*
Fear / physiology
Gonadal Steroid Hormones / physiology
Hippocampus / physiology
Maternal Behavior / physiology*
Mental Recall / physiology
Motivation
Neuronal Plasticity / physiology*
Predatory Behavior / physiology
Rats
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
1R15 HD 37578-01/HD/NICHD NIH HHS; //Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Gonadal Steroid Hormones

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