Cocaine sensitization increases kyphosis and modulates neural activity in adult nulliparous rats.

Although data from both animals and humans suggests that adult cocaine use can have long term effects on behavior, it is unknown if prior cocaine use affects future maternal behavior in nulliparous females. In the current study, cocaine or saline was administered to adult female rats for 10 days, the animals were withdrawn from cocaine for 7 days, and the females were then exposed to donor pups to induce the expression of maternal behavior. Nulliparous females sensitized to cocaine were more likely to retrieve pups, spent more time caring for the pups, and were more likely to express full maternal behavior on day 8 of pup exposure.

Cocaine-associated odor cue re-exposure increases blood oxygenation level dependent signal in memory and reward regions of the maternal rat brain.

Background: Cue triggered relapse during the postpartum period can negatively impact maternal care. Given the high reward value of pups in maternal rats, we designed an fMRI experiment to test whether offspring presence reduces the neural response to a cocaine associated olfactory cue.

Methods: Cocaine conditioned place preference was carried out before pregnancy in the presence of two distinct odors that were paired with cocaine or saline (+Cue and -Cue).

Blood oxygen level-dependent signal responses in corticolimbic 'emotions' circuitry of lactating rats facing intruder threat to pups.

Lactating rats must continuously maintain a critical balance between caring for pups and aggressively responding to nest threats. We tested the neural response of lactating females to the presentation of their own pups and novel intruder males using blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging at 7 T. Dams were presented with a single sequence of a control stimulus, pups or a male intruder in one imaging session (n = 7-9).

Central vasopressin V1a receptors modulate neural processing in mothers facing intruder threat to pups.

Vasopressin V1a receptors in the rat brain have been studied for their role in modulating aggression and anxiety. In the current study blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI was used to test whether V1a receptors modulate neural processing in the maternal brain when dams are exposed to a male intruder. Primiparous females were given an intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of vehicle or V1a receptor antagonist ([beta-Mercapto-beta,beta-cyclopentamethylenepropionyl(1), O-me-Tyr(2),Arg(8)]-Vasopressin, [corrected] 125 ng/10 microL) 90-120 min before imaging.