1. Effects of acute inhibition of dopamine β-hydroxylase on neural responses to pups in adult virgin male California mice (Peromyscus californicus).
- Author
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Acosta MC, Hussein M, and Saltzman W
- Subjects
- Animals, Male, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos metabolism, Female, Enzyme Inhibitors pharmacology, Basolateral Nuclear Complex drug effects, Basolateral Nuclear Complex metabolism, Corticomedial Nuclear Complex drug effects, Corticomedial Nuclear Complex metabolism, Norepinephrine metabolism, Imidazoles, Thiones, Peromyscus, Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase metabolism, Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase antagonists & inhibitors, Paternal Behavior physiology, Paternal Behavior drug effects, Septal Nuclei drug effects, Septal Nuclei metabolism, Preoptic Area metabolism, Preoptic Area drug effects
- Abstract
The neural mechanisms underlying paternal care in biparental mammals are not well understood. The California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) is a biparental rodent in which virtually all fathers are attracted to pups, while virgin males vary widely in their behavior toward unrelated infants, ranging from attacking to avoiding to huddling and grooming pups. We previously showed that pharmacologically inhibiting the synthesis of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) with the dopamine β-hydroxylase inhibitor nepicastat reduced the propensity of virgin male and female California mice to interact with pups. The current study tested the hypothesis that nepicastat would reduce pup-induced c-Fos immunoreactivity, a cellular marker of neural activity, in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), medial amygdala (MeA), basolateral amygdala (BLA), and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), brain regions implicated in the control of parental behavior and/or anxiety. Virgin males were injected with nepicastat (75 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle 2 hours prior to exposure to either an unrelated pup or novel object for 60 minutes (n = 4-6 mice per group). Immediately following the 60-minute stimulus exposure, mice were euthanized and their brains were collected for c-Fos immunohistochemistry. Nepicastat reduced c-Fos expression in the MeA and MPOA of pup-exposed virgin males compared to vehicle-injected controls. In contrast, nepicastat did not alter c-Fos expression in any of the above brain regions following exposure to a novel object. Overall, these results suggest that the noradrenergic system might influence MeA and MPOA function to promote behavioral interactions with pups in virgin males., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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