Preliminary evidence of altered sensitivity to benzodiazepines as a function of maternal care in the rat.
Variations in maternal care over the first week of life alter the expression of genes encoding for various subunits of the GABA(A)/benzodiazepine (BZ) receptor in the amygdala, a brain region associated with fear behavior. Increased maternal licking/grooming and arched-back nursing are associated with decreased fearfulness and enhanced expression of the subunits that confer BZ sensitivity. In these studies we found that the offspring of high licking/grooming-arched-back nursing mothers also showed increased behavioral sensitivity to acute BZ treatment, suggesting a functional relation between the effect on gene expression and fear behavior.
Fries
Eva
E
Department of Clinical and Theoretical Psychobiology, University of Trier, Germany.
Moragues
Nathalie
N
Caldji
Christian
C
Hellhammer
Dirk H
DH
Meaney
Michael J
MJ
D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D018757:GABA Modulators / Q000494:pharmacology; D006120:Grooming; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
D018757:GABA Modulators; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D003975:Diazepam