Kolunie J M, Stern J M, Barfield R J
Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903.
Behav Neural Biol. 1994 Jul;62(1):41-9. doi: 10.1016/s0163-1047(05)80057-3.
Previous studies indicate that somatosensory inputs to the snout and the ventral trunk play critical roles in the elicitation and maintenance of maternal aggression by postpartum lactating Long-Evans Norway rats toward a strange male intruder. In the present studies we examined the possible influence of visual and auditory stimuli in the display of this behavior. In Experiment 1, dams temporarily deprived of visual or auditory input by eyelid suturing or ear molds, respectively, on Day 2 postpartum, were found to have normal levels of maternal aggression 1 day later. In Experiment 2, males were found to contribute about 50% of the short-duration 50-kHz vocalizations, which begin shortly after introduction of the intruder, and all of the long-duration 22-kHz vocalizations, which begin after the onset of attacks. Nonetheless, females tested with males surgically devocalized 7 days earlier were not significantly different in aggressiveness from dams tested with vocalizing males on either Day 1 or Day 4 postpartum. These findings indicate that visual or auditory inputs from the pups or intruder are not critical to the display of maternal aggression in rats, at least within the confines of laboratory housing.
先前的研究表明，产后哺乳期的长 Evans 挪威大鼠对陌生雄性入侵者表现出母性攻击行为时，口鼻部和腹侧躯干的躯体感觉输入在引发和维持这种行为中起着关键作用。在本研究中，我们考察了视觉和听觉刺激对这种行为表现的可能影响。在实验 1 中，分别在产后第 2 天通过眼睑缝合或耳模暂时剥夺视觉或听觉输入的母鼠，在 1 天后被发现具有正常水平的母性攻击行为。在实验 2 中，发现雄性发出的短时长 50 千赫叫声约占 50%，这些叫声在入侵者被引入后不久开始，而所有长时长 22 千赫叫声在攻击开始后出现。然而，与 7 天前接受手术使其发声功能丧失的雄性一起测试的雌性，在产后第 1 天或第 4 天与和能发声的雄性一起测试的母鼠相比，攻击性没有显著差异。这些发现表明，来自幼崽或入侵者的视觉或听觉输入对于大鼠母性攻击行为的表现并非至关重要，至少在实验室饲养环境范围内是如此。
