Anatomical identification of neurons in selected brain regions associated with maternal behavior deficits induced by knife cuts of the lateral hypothalamus in rats.

The present experiment identified neurons associated with maternal behavior deficits induced by damage to the lateral hypothalamus (LH) in rats. Fully maternal lactating rats received bilateral coronal knife cuts through either the dorsal or ventral LH at the level of the ventromedial nucleus. The blade of the wire knife used to make the cuts was coated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The maternal behavior of all females was studied for 4 days postoperatively and then the brains were processed for the localization of neurons retrogradely filled with HRP. The analysis focused on those brain regions thought to be important for maternal behavior. The dorsal LH cuts severely disrupted maternal behavior while the ventral LH cuts did not. The ventral cuts labeled more medial preoptic area (MPOA) and septal-diagonal band neurons with HRP than did the dorsal cuts. The dorsal LH cuts labeled more neurons with HRP in the lateral preoptic area (LPOA), magnocellular preoptic area, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, ventral tegmental area (VTA), substantia nigra, and central gray than did the ventral cuts. Previous research has suggested that the lateral efferents of the MPOA interact with the VTA in the control of maternal behavior. The results of the present experiment suggest that MPOA axons which descend directly to the brainstem via the ventral LH are not essential for maternal behavior. Our results are consistent with the view that an MPOA-to-LPOA-to-VTA circuit may be important for maternal behavior.