Risser J M, Slotnick B M
Physiol Behav. 1987;40(4):545-9. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(87)90042-4.
Seven-day-old rat pups were olfactory bulbectomized, cortical lesioned, or sham lesioned, tested for nipple attachment 24 hr after surgery, then housed with their dam and weighed daily for the next 7 days. On the basis of histological findings the bulbectomized animals were divided into two subgroups: Those with removal of all olfactory bulb tissue (n = 9) and those in which some cellular elements remained in the lesioned area (n = 7). There were no differences between sham and cortical lesioned groups for nipple attachment behavior or weight gain. The completely bulbectomized pups did not show nipple attachment, lost weight each day, became moribund and had to be sacrificed by the fifth postoperative day. Deficits in incompletely bulbectomized pups were somewhat less severe and each of these survived and maintained or gained weight in the latter part of the test period. These results suggest that suckling may be critically dependent upon olfaction in 8 day or older pups and that significant savings in this behavior may be mediated by small remnants of olfactory bulb tissue.
将7日龄的幼鼠进行嗅球切除、皮层损伤或假损伤，术后24小时测试其乳头附着情况，然后与母鼠一起饲养，并在接下来的7天里每天称重。根据组织学检查结果，将嗅球切除的动物分为两个亚组：切除所有嗅球组织的（n = 9）和损伤区域仍有一些细胞成分的（n = 7）。假损伤组和皮层损伤组在乳头附着行为或体重增加方面没有差异。完全嗅球切除的幼鼠没有表现出乳头附着，每天体重减轻，变得奄奄一息，到术后第五天不得不处死。不完全嗅球切除的幼鼠的缺陷程度稍轻，这些幼鼠在试验后期均存活下来并维持体重或体重增加。这些结果表明，8日龄及以上的幼鼠哺乳可能严重依赖嗅觉，而这种行为的显著保留可能由嗅球组织的小残余介导。
