title: Wired for motherhood: induction of maternal care but not maternal aggression in virgin female CD1 mice.
abstract: Virgin adult female mice display nearly spontaneous maternal care towards foster pups after a short period of sensitization. This indicates that maternal care is triggered by sensory stimulation provided by the pups and that its onset is largely independent on the physiological events related to gestation, parturition and lactation. Conversely, the factors influencing maternal aggression are poorly understood. In this study, we sought to characterize two models of maternal sensitization in the outbred CD1 strain. To do so, a group of virgin females (godmothers) were exposed to continuous cohabitation with a lactating dam and their pups from the moment of parturition, whereas a second group (pup-sensitized females), were exposed 2 h daily to foster pups. Both groups were tested for maternal behavior on postnatal days 2-4. Godmothers expressed full maternal care from the first test. Also, they expressed higher levels of crouching than dams. Pup-sensitized females differed from dams in all measures of pup-directed behavior in the first test, and expressed full maternal care after two sessions of contact with pups. However, both protocols failed to induce maternal aggression toward a male intruder after full onset of pup-directed maternal behavior, even in the presence of pups. Our study confirms that adult female mice need a short sensitization period before the onset of maternal care. Further, it shows that pup-oriented and non-pup-oriented components of maternal behavior are under different physiological control. We conclude that the godmother model might be useful to study the physiological and neural bases of the maternal behavior repertoire.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Neuroanatomy (NeuroFun), Unitat Predepartamental de Medicina, Facultat de Ciències de la Salut, Universitat Jaume I Castelló de la Plana, Spain ; Departaments de Biologia Cel·lular i de Biologia Funcional, Facultat de Ciències Biològiques, Universitat de València València, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martín-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Departaments de Biologia Cel·lular i de Biologia Funcional, Facultat de Ciències Biològiques, Universitat de València València, Spain.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valera-Marín
authors.affiliation: Departaments de Biologia Cel·lular i de Biologia Funcional, Facultat de Ciències Biològiques, Universitat de València València, Spain.
authors.forename: Adoración
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernández-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Departaments de Biologia Cel·lular i de Biologia Funcional, Facultat de Ciències Biològiques, Universitat de València València, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lanuza
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Neuroanatomy (NeuroFun), Unitat Predepartamental de Medicina, Facultat de Ciències de la Salut, Universitat Jaume I Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martínez-García
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Neuroanatomy (NeuroFun), Unitat Predepartamental de Medicina, Facultat de Ciències de la Salut, Universitat Jaume I Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agustín-Pavón
keywords: aggression; communal nesting; maternal care; maternal sensitization; outbred strain