Numan M
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02167.
Behav Neural Biol. 1990 Mar;53(2):284-90. doi: 10.1016/0163-1047(90)90543-f.
Knife cuts severing the lateral connections of the medial preoptic area disrupt maternal behavior in postpartum rats. In these studies the knife cuts were produced 1-2 days prior to behavioral testing. The present study examined whether preoptic area knife cuts produce long-term deficits in maternal behavior. Nulliparous Charles River CD rats received knife cuts severing the lateral connections of the medial preoptic area or sham cuts. Approximately 2 weeks later they were mated. All females delivered young 22-23 days after mating, and litter size did not differ between the groups. Females with preoptic knife cuts cleaned their young, built nests (albeit of inferior quality), crouched over their young in a nursing posture, and lactated. The major deficit shown was the near total elimination of retrieval behavior. Females with preoptic knife cuts, however, were capable of performing the oral-motor responses associated with hoarding behavior. These results show that severing the lateral connections of the medial preoptic area does produce long-term deficits in maternal behavior, particularly with respect to maternal retrieving.
切断内侧视前区的外侧连接的刀伤会破坏产后大鼠的母性行为。在这些研究中，刀伤是在行为测试前1 - 2天造成的。本研究考察了视前区刀伤是否会导致母性行为的长期缺陷。未生育的查尔斯河CD大鼠接受切断内侧视前区外侧连接的刀伤或假手术。大约2周后它们进行交配。所有雌性大鼠在交配后22 - 23天产仔，两组的窝仔数没有差异。有视前区刀伤的雌性大鼠会清洁幼崽、筑巢（尽管质量较差）、以哺乳姿势蹲伏在幼崽上方并泌乳。显示出的主要缺陷是几乎完全消除了找回行为。然而，有视前区刀伤的雌性大鼠能够执行与囤积行为相关的口部运动反应。这些结果表明，切断内侧视前区的外侧连接确实会导致母性行为的长期缺陷，特别是在母性找回方面。
