Urocortin 1 and 3 impair maternal defense behavior in mice.
Lactating female mice fiercely defend offspring while exhibiting decreased fear and anxiety. Recent work (J. S. Lonstein & S. C. Gammie, 2002) found that intracerebroventricular (icv) injections of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), a putative anxiogenic peptide, inhibit maternal defense behavior. This study examines effects of CRF-related peptides, urocortin (Ucn) 1 and Ucn 3, on maternal aggression in mice. Intracerebroventricular injections of both Ucn 1 (0.2 microg) and Ucn 3 (0.5 microg) reduced aggression but not pup retrieval. c-Fos levels were elevated by intracerebroventricular injections of Ucn 1 (0.2 microg) and Ucn 3 (0.5 microg) in 2 and 6 brain regions, respectively; however, both triggered increases in bed nucleus of the stria terminalis dorsal (BNSTd) and lateral septum (LS). These findings suggest that CRF-related peptides similarly modulate maternal aggression and that BNSTd/LS may be critical sites for negative regulation of maternal aggression.
D'Anna
Kimberly L
KL
Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. kldanna@wisc.edu
Stevenson
Sharon A
SA
Gammie
Stephen C
SC
D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular / Q000379:methods; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D054832:Urocortins
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D054832:Urocortins; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone