ArticlePsychopharmacology2012
Effects of noradrenergic alpha-2 receptor antagonism or noradrenergic lesions in the ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and medial preoptic area on maternal care in female rats.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neural plasticity supporting parental behaviors.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2025Review
- Locus Coeruleus-Noradrenergic Neurons Regulate Stress Coping During Subchronic Exposure to Social Threats: A Characteristic Feature in Postpartum Female Mice.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2023Article
- Experience-Regulated Neuronal Signaling in Maternal Behavior.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Review
- Acute inhibition of dopamine β-hydroxylase attenuates behavioral responses to pups in adult virgin California mice (Peromyscus californicus).Hormones and behavior · 2022Article
- Postpartum State, but Not Maternal Caregiving or Level of Anxiety, Increases Medial Prefrontal Cortex GADFrontiers in global women's health · 2021Article
- Serotonin and motherhood: From molecules to mood.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2019Review
- Serotonin-specific lesions of the dorsal raphe disrupt maternal aggression and caregiving in postpartum rats.Behavioural brain research · 2018Article
- Article
- Blockade of α2-adrenergic receptors in prelimbic cortex: impact on cocaine self-administration in adult spontaneously hypertensive rats following adolescent atomoxetine treatment.Psychopharmacology · 2017Article
- Motherhood and infant contact regulate neuroplasticity in the serotonergic midbrain dorsal raphe.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2017Article
- CRF-R1 activation in the anterior-dorsal BNST induces maternal neglect in lactating rats via an HPA axis-independent central mechanism.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2016Article
- Associations among within-litter differences in early mothering received and later emotional behaviors, mothering, and cortical tryptophan hydroxylase-2 expression in female laboratory rats.Hormones and behavior · 2016Article
- Common and divergent psychobiological mechanisms underlying maternal behaviors in non-human and human mammals.Hormones and behavior · 2015Review
- Neuroendocrine regulation of maternal behavior.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2015Review
- c-Fos expression in the paternal mouse brain induced by communicative interaction with maternal mates.Molecular brain · 2014Article
- Hypoactivation of CRF receptors, predominantly type 2, in the medial-posterior BNST is vital for adequate maternal behavior in lactating rats.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2014Article
- Article
- Restoration of dopamine signaling to the dorsal striatum is sufficient for aspects of active maternal behavior in female mice.Endocrinology · 2013Article
- Noradrenergic alpha-2 receptor modulators in the ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis: effects on anxiety behavior in postpartum and virgin female rats.Behavioral neuroscience · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleMaternal behavior in laboratory rats requires a network of brain structures including the ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTv) and medial preoptic area (mPOA). Neurotransmitter systems in the BSTv and mPOA influencing maternal behaviors are not well understood, although norepinephrine is an excellent candidate because the BSTv contains the densest noradrenergic fiber plexus in the forebrain and norepinephrine in the mPOA is known to influence other female reproductive functions.
objectivesWe hypothesized that downregulated noradrenergic activity in the BSTv and mPOA is necessary for mothering.
methodsPostpartum mother-litter interactions were observed after BSTv infusion of yohimbine (an α2 autoreceptor antagonist that increases norepinephrine release), and after BSTv or mPOA infusion of the more selective α2 autoreceptor antagonist idazoxan. Lastly, noradrenergic input to the BSTv/mPOA was selectively lesioned in nulliparous rats with anti-DBH-saporin to determine if this would facilitate mothering.
resultsBSTv yohimbine almost abolished retrieval of pups but did not significantly affect dams' ability to initiate contact, lick, or nurse them. BSTv idazoxan disrupted retrieval somewhat less than yohimbine, but significantly reduced nursing. mPOA idazoxan impaired retrieval more severely than that found after BSTv infusion. Anti-DBH-saporin almost eliminated noradrenergic terminals in the BSTv and reduced them by over 60% in the mPOA, but did not promote maternal responding. It also did not affect females' anxiety-related behavior.
conclusionsDownregulated noradrenergic activity in the BSTv and mPOA is necessary for postpartum maternal behavior in rats, but eliminating this system alone is insufficient to promote maternal behaviors in nulliparous females.
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