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  • Title: Juvenile rats show reduced c-fos activity in neural sites associated with aversion to pups and inhibition of maternal behavior.
    Author: Olazábal DE, Morrell JI.
    Journal: Behav Neurosci; 2005 Aug; 119(4):1097-110. PubMed ID: 16187837.
    Abstract:
    Juvenile rats (18-23 days old) interact avidly with pups as novel stimuli and show maternal behavior after only 1-3 days of pup exposure; adults initially avoid pups and require 3-9 days of pup exposure. Upon exposure to pups as novel stimuli, adults had more c-Fos-immunoreactive neurons in the hypothalamus and amygdala--regions associated with aversion to pups--than adults exposed to familiar pup stimuli (maternal) or not exposed to pups (p < .05). In juvenile rats exposed to pups as novel stimuli, only the medial amygdala had a small significant increase of c-Fos neurons. In juveniles, this blunted engagement of c-Fos neurons may reflect the diminished activation of inhibitory neurons, facilitating the interaction of juveniles with pups as novel stimuli and onset of maternal behavior.
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