Sexual dimorphism in the vomeronasal pathway and sex differences in reproductive behaviors.

Sex differences in the parental behavior of rodents

Sexually and parentally experienced prairie voles display robust biparental care of pups that is similar between the sexes. Little is known, however, about possible sex differences in the parental behaviours of sexually inexperienced prairie voles. Parental behaviour of adult virgin male and female prairie voles was examined in sham-operated and gonadectomized subjects treated with vehicle or oestradiol. Since arginine-vasopressin (AVP) has been suggested to stimulate parental behaviour in sexually inexperienced males, neural AVP immunoreactivity (AVP IR) was quantified. Most sham-operated and castrated males displayed high levels of parental behaviour (9/9 controls, 6/9 castrates) during a 15-min exposure to pups 4 weeks after surgery, and few behavioural differences were seen between groups. Conversely, almost all gonadally intact (8/9) and gonadectomized (8/9) females attacked pups. Implantation of a 0.1-mg pellet of oestradiol immediately after gonadectomy had little effect on males (9/9 parental), whereas most (5/9) oestradiol-treated females acted maternally. AVP-immunoreactive (AVP-ir) fibre density in the lateral septum (LS) and lateral habenula (LHb), expressed by the number of pixels that covered AVP-ir fibres during computerized optical density analysis, was greater in males than females, was non-significantly reduced in castrated males, and doubled in the LS of oestradiol-treated females. In a second experiment, males tested 8 weeks after similar manipulations remained highly parental though castrated males had almost no AVP-ir fibres in the LS and LHb. Levels of AVP IR in males treated with oestradiol were similar to those observed in intact males. A dramatic sex difference therefore exists in the parental behaviour of adult sexually naive prairie voles which cannot be explained by sex differences in gonadal hormones. Because both castrated and intact males were highly parental, even though castrates had virtually no AVP-ir in the LS or LHb, AVP does not appear to be crucial for their responsiveness toward pups.

Sex differences in the parental behaviour of adult virgin prairie voles: independence from gonadal hormones and vasopressin.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a neuroethological analysis of maternal behavior, with emphasis on nursing behavior and its immediate antecedents. A comprehensive neuroethological analysis of mammalian maternal behavior, grounded in an understanding of the sensory, neural, and motor mechanisms, has been impeded in large part by the complexity of maternal behavior. The sight, sound, and smell of pups are all neural stimuli to which rat mothers are responsive. This facilitates their localization of pups displaced from the nest. The hormones contribute to the onset of maternal behavior. They are responsible for maternal aggression, nest building, and fearfulness. In addition to this priming role of hormones, the hormones also influence the maternal behavior indirectly during lactation. The delineation of neural circuits underlying the expression of each component of maternal behavior requires separate analyses. The control of maternal aggression is similar to that of pup retrieval and licking with respect to perioral somatosensory regulation but apparently different with respect to the importance of additional olfactory and ventral somatosensory determinants.

Maternal Behavior: Sensory, Hormonal, and Neural Determinants

Publisher Summary This chapter is concerned with the immediate control of parental behavior. When considering the many different forms by which parental care is expressed in mammals and the variety of control mechanisms involved, it becomes quite evident that no general model can be proposed to explain this complex behavior. Even in species occupying the same ecological niches, producing neonates that share the same characteristics, and expressing similar patterns of parental care, the mechanisms that control this behavior are quite different. Typical examples of this are rats and mice: Whereas the former are highly dependent on internal factors (i.e., hormones) for the facilitation of maternal behavior at the first parturition and olfactory cues tonically inhibit maternal responsiveness in virgins, in mice olfactory cues appear to be mostly facilitatory, and endocrine factors are not essential for the rapid display of parental care.

Parental Care in Mammals: Immediate Internal and Sensory Factors of Control

Olfactory bulbectomy and gender differences in maternal behaviors of rats

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Olfactory bulbectomy and gender differences in maternal behaviors of rats