Chary Mamatha C, Cruz Jayson P, Bardi Massimo, Becker Elizabeth A
Department of Psychology, Saint Joseph's University, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA; Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 890 Drillfield Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA.
Department of Psychology, Saint Joseph's University, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA.
Horm Behav. 2015 Jul;73:23-9. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.05.013. Epub 2015 Jun 9.
The importance of maternal care on offspring development has received considerable attention, although more recently, researchers have begun to focus on the significance of paternal contributions. In the monogamous and bi-parental California mouse, fathers provide high levels of care, and therefore serve as a model system for studying paternal effects on behavior and underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms. Paternal retrievals in this species influence long term changes in brain (expression of arginine vasopressin-AVP) and behavior (aggression and parenting) in adult male offspring. Further, paternal retrievals induce a transient increase in testosterone (T) in male offspring, which is thought to mediate the relationship between paternal retrievals and AVP expression. Although the father-son relationship has been well characterized, few studies have examined father-daughter interactions. In California mice, paternal retrievals increase aggression in female offspring. Although T has been implicated in the regulation of female aggression, it remains unclear whether T may underlie long-term changes in female offspring aggression in response to paternal retrievals. In the current study, we examined the influence of paternal retrievals on T in both male and female offspring. Retrievals were manipulated experimentally by displacement of the pup and trunk blood was collected from retrieved, non-retrieved, and non-manipulated (baseline) pups. We found that fathers expressed similar levels of retrievals towards sons and daughters, and that T levels were elevated in retrieved, as compared to non-retrieved offspring. Similar to what has been previously described in male offspring and replicated here, female offspring that were retrieved had higher T levels than non-retrieved females. Neither females nor males experienced a change in corticosterone levels in response to retrievals suggesting offspring do not mount a stress response to paternal care. Therefore, our data suggest that paternal retrievals may serve similar functions in shaping adult behavior in both male and female offspring via modulation of hormone levels.
尽管最近研究人员开始关注父本贡献的重要性，但母性照料对后代发育的重要性已受到相当多的关注。在实行一夫一妻制且双亲共同养育后代的加利福尼亚小鼠中，父亲提供高水平的照料，因此它成为研究父本对行为及潜在神经内分泌机制影响的模型系统。该物种中父本的找回行为会影响成年雄性后代大脑的长期变化（精氨酸加压素 - AVP的表达）和行为（攻击性及养育行为）。此外，父本的找回行为会使雄性后代的睾酮（T）短暂升高，这被认为介导了父本找回行为与AVP表达之间的关系。尽管父子关系已得到充分研究，但很少有研究考察父女之间的互动。在加利福尼亚小鼠中，父本的找回行为会增加雌性后代的攻击性。尽管T与雌性攻击性的调节有关，但尚不清楚T是否是雌性后代因父本找回行为而导致攻击性长期变化的基础。在本研究中，我们考察了父本找回行为对雄性和雌性后代T的影响。通过移动幼崽对找回行为进行实验性操控，并从被找回、未被找回以及未被操控（基线）的幼崽中采集躯干血液。我们发现，父亲对儿子和女儿的找回行为水平相似，并且与未被找回的后代相比，被找回后代的T水平升高。与之前在雄性后代中所描述的情况相似且在此得到重复，被找回的雌性后代的T水平高于未被找回的雌性后代。无论是雌性还是雄性后代，对找回行为的应激激素皮质酮水平均未发生变化，这表明后代对父本照料不会产生应激反应。因此，我们的数据表明，父本的找回行为可能通过调节激素水平，在塑造雄性和雌性后代的成年行为方面发挥类似的作用。
