Navarro-Moreno Cinta, Sanchez-Catalan Maria Jose, Barneo-Muñoz Manuela, Goterris-Cerisuelo Rafael, Belles Maria, Lanuza Enrique, Agustin-Pavon Carmen, Martinez-Garcia Fernando
Lab of Functional Neuroanatomy (NeuroFun-UJI-UV), Unitat Predepartamental de Medicina, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón de la Plana, Spain.
Lab of Functional Neuroanatomy (NeuroFun-UJI-UV), Departament de Biologia Cellular, Funcional i Antropologia, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.
Front Cell Neurosci. 2020 Dec 18;14:593309. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2020.593309. eCollection 2020.
Motherhood entails changes in behavior with increased motivation for pups, induced in part by pregnancy hormones acting upon the brain. This work explores whether this alters sensory processing of pup-derived chemosignals. To do so, we analyse the expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) in the vomeronasal organ (VNO; Egr1) and centers of the olfactory and vomeronasal brain pathways (cFos) in virgin and late-pregnant females exposed to pups, as compared to buttons (socially neutral control). In pup-exposed females, we quantified diverse behaviors including pup retrieval, sniffing, pup-directed attack, nest building and time in nest or on nest, as well as time off nest. Pups induce Egr1 expression in the VNO of females, irrespective of their physiological condition, thus suggesting the existence of VNO-detected pup chemosignals. A similar situation is found in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) and posteromedial part of the medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTMPM). By contrast, in the medial amygdala and posteromedial cortical amygdala (PMCo), responses to pups-vs-buttons are different in virgin and late-pregnant females, thus suggesting altered sensory processing during late pregnancy. The olfactory system also shows changes in sensory processing with pregnancy. In the main olfactory bulbs, as well as the anterior and posterior piriform cortex, buttons activate cFos expression in virgins more than in pregnant females. By contrast, in the anterior and especially posterior piriform cortex, pregnant females show more activation by pups than buttons. Correlation between IEGs expression and behavior suggests the existence of two vomeronasal subsystems: one associated to pup care (with PMCo as its main center) and another related to pup-directed aggression observed in some pregnant females (with the BSTMPM as the main nucleus). Our data also suggest a coactivation of the olfactory and vomeronasal systems during interaction with pups in pregnant females.
为人母会带来行为上的变化，对幼崽的积极性增强，部分原因是妊娠激素作用于大脑所致。这项研究探讨了这是否会改变对幼崽来源的化学信号的感官处理。为此，我们分析了未受孕和妊娠后期的雌性在接触幼崽、纽扣（社会中性对照物）后，犁鼻器（VNO；Egr1）以及嗅觉和犁鼻脑通路中枢（cFos）中即刻早期基因（IEGs）的表达。在接触幼崽的雌性中，我们量化了多种行为，包括找回幼崽、嗅闻、对幼崽的攻击、筑巢以及在巢内或巢上的时间，还有离开巢穴的时间。幼崽会诱导雌性犁鼻器中Egr1的表达，无论其生理状态如何，这表明存在由犁鼻器检测到的幼崽化学信号。在副嗅球和终纹床核的内侧后内侧部分（BSTMPM）也发现了类似情况。相比之下，在杏仁核内侧和皮质杏仁核后内侧部分（PMCo），未受孕和妊娠后期的雌性对幼崽与纽扣的反应不同，这表明妊娠后期的感官处理发生了改变。嗅觉系统在妊娠期间的感官处理也会发生变化。在主嗅球以及前梨状皮质和后梨状皮质中，纽扣比妊娠雌性更能激活未受孕雌性中cFos的表达。相比之下，在前梨状皮质尤其是后梨状皮质中，妊娠雌性对幼崽的激活作用比纽扣更强。即刻早期基因表达与行为之间的相关性表明存在两个犁鼻器子系统：一个与幼崽照料相关（以PMCo为主要中枢），另一个与一些妊娠雌性中观察到的对幼崽的攻击行为相关（以BSTMPM为主要核团）。我们的数据还表明，妊娠雌性在与幼崽互动期间，嗅觉和犁鼻器系统会共同激活。
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