Effect of varying the duration of pre-test cage habituation on oxytocin induction of short-latency maternal behavior.
Intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusion of the peptide hormone oxytocin has been previously reported to induce the performance of short-latency maternal behavior (less than one hour of exposure to foster pups required) in estrogen-treated, ovariectomized virgin rats. Tests for the effect of ICV oxytocin in maternal behavior latency have included transfer of animals from their home cage to a larger test cage one to two hours before oxytocin infusion. The importance of this test feature on peptide-induced short-latency maternal behavior was evaluated by varying the duration of the pre-test cage habituation. The responses of ovariectomized, estrogen-primed Zivic-Miller Sprague-Dawley rats housed in the test cages one week, two hours, or 0 hours before oxytocin or saline infusion were compared. It was found that only the rats given two hours of pre-test cage habituation responded to ICV oxytocin treatment with short-latency maternal behavior. This result is discussed with regard to the failure of other investigators to elicit short-latency maternal behavior with oxytocin. Possible neuroendocrine mechanisms for the interaction of degree of environment novelty with oxytocin-induced behavior are considered.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000187:drug effects*; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects*; D012931:Social Environment
D010121:Oxytocin