Nephew Benjamin C, Bridges Robert S
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2008 Nov;91(1):77-83. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2008.06.013. Epub 2008 Jun 29.
Maternal aggression is a robust type of aggression displayed by lactating female rats. Although arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been implicated in the control of male aggression, its involvement in maternal aggression has not been thoroughly investigated. Previous neuroanatomical studies suggest that AVP may mediate the display of aggression during lactation. In the current study, AVP and an AVP V1a receptor antagonist were centrally administered to primiparous rats on days 5 and 15 of lactation, and aggression, maternal behavior, and grooming were recorded. Although AVP did not affect the number of attacks or duration of aggression, it increased the latency to initiate aggression on day 5, in addition to decreasing maternal behavior and increasing grooming. Conversely, V1a antagonist treatment increased maternal aggression on both days of lactation, decreased maternal behavior on day 15, and decreased grooming on day 5. Thus, it appears that central AVP activity modulates maternal aggression, as well as maternal behavior and grooming behavior during lactation.
母性攻击行为是哺乳期雌性大鼠表现出的一种强烈的攻击行为类型。尽管精氨酸加压素（AVP）已被认为与雄性攻击行为的控制有关，但其在母性攻击行为中的作用尚未得到充分研究。先前的神经解剖学研究表明，AVP可能介导哺乳期的攻击行为表现。在本研究中，在哺乳期第5天和第15天给初产大鼠中枢注射AVP和一种AVP V1a受体拮抗剂，并记录攻击行为、母性行为和梳理行为。虽然AVP不影响攻击次数或攻击持续时间，但它增加了第5天发起攻击的潜伏期，此外还减少了母性行为并增加了梳理行为。相反，V1a拮抗剂处理在哺乳期的两天都增加了母性攻击行为，在第15天减少了母性行为，并在第5天减少了梳理行为。因此，似乎中枢AVP活性在调节母性攻击行为以及哺乳期的母性行为和梳理行为。
