ArticleBehavioural brain research2018
Serotonin-specific lesions of the dorsal raphe disrupt maternal aggression and caregiving in postpartum rats.
Article in Behavioural brain research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neural circuits for mammalian parental behaviour.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- How Imprinted Genes Shape Nurturing Behaviours and Neural Circuits.Brain, behavior and evolution · 2026Review
- Does lateral habenula mediate effects of gestational stress on rat maternal behavior?Brain behavior and immunity integrative · 2025Article
- Multidimensional Analysis of a Social Behavior Identifies Regression and Phenotypic Heterogeneity in a Female Mouse Model for Rett Syndrome.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Roadmap for maternal behavior research in domestic dogs: lessons from decades of laboratory rodent work.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Review
- Involvement of Serotonergic Projections from the Dorsal Raphe to the Medial Preoptic Area in the Regulation of the Pup-Directed Paternal Response of Male Mandarin Voles.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Oxytocin interactions with central dopamine and serotonin systems regulate different components of motherhood.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- Lateral habenula neurocircuits mediate the maternal disruptive effect of maternal stress: A hypothesis.Zoological research · 2022Review
- Less can be more: Fine tuning the maternal brain.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Review
- Oxytocin receptors in the midbrain dorsal raphe are essential for postpartum maternal social and affective behaviors.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
- Serotonin and motherhood: From molecules to mood.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2019Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The behavioral modifications associated with early motherhood, which include high aggression, caring for the young, and low anxiety, are all affected by acute pharmacological manipulation of serotonin signaling. However, the effects on all these behaviors of permanently disrupting serotonin signaling from one of its primary sources, the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR), have not been examined in detail. To address this, serotonin-specific lesions centered on the dorsomedial DR (DRdm; DR subregion strongly implicated in emotional behaviors) were induced at mid-pregnancy (day 15) or early postpartum (day 2) in rats using a saporin-conjugated neurotoxin targeting the serotonin transporter (Anti-SERT-SAP). Prepartum or postpartum Anti-SERT-SAP reduced DRdm serotonin immunoreactivity by ∼40-65%, and postpartum Anti-SERT-SAP also reduced it in the ventromedial and lateral wings of the DR, as well as in the median raphe. Serotonin-immunoreactive fibers were significantly reduced in the anterior hypothalamus, but not medial preoptic area, of lesioned dams. Pre- or postpartum lesions both greatly reduced maternal aggression, but while prepartum lesions did not affect later undisturbed maternal caregiving, the larger postpartum lesions prevented the postpartum decline in kyphotic nursing and reduced pup licking. Serotonin lesions did not affect pup retrieval, but the prepartum lesions temporarily increased maternal hovering over and licking the pups observed immediately after the disruptive retrieval tests. Dams' anxiety-like behaviors and litter weight gains were unaffected by the lesions. These findings suggest that DRdm serotonin projecting to the AH is particularly critical for maternal aggression, but that more widespread disruption of midbrain raphe serotonin is necessary to greatly impair maternal caregiving. Postpartum anxiety may rely more on other neurochemical systems or different midbrain serotonergic cell populations.
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