Oxytocin Facilitates Allomaternal Behavior under Stress in Laboratory Mice.

Oxytocin (Oxt) controls reproductive physiology and various kinds of social behaviors, but the exact contribution of Oxt to different components of parental care still needs to be determined. Here, we illustrate the neuroanatomical relations of the parental nurturing-induced neuronal activation with magnocellular Oxt neurons and fibers in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), the brain region critical for parental and alloparental behaviors. We used genetically-targeted mouse lines for , (), (), (), and () to systematically examine the role of Oxt-related signaling in pup-directed behaviors.

Using maternal rescue of pups in a cup to investigate mother-infant interactions in mice/rodents.

Efficient parental care is indispensable for survival of the mammalian offspring, and therefore both parents and offspring cooperate to achieve the best performance. For example, when parents transport altricial offspring, the offspring immediately respond by reducing its cry and movement in both human infants and rodent pups. This coordinated set of central, motor and cardiac responses is designated as the Transport Response (TR) and is shown to facilitate maternal carrying in rodents.

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Receptor 1 in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Mediates Maternal Absence-Induced Attenuation of Transport Response in Mouse Pups.

A human infant initially shows non-selective sociality, and gradually develops selective attachment toward its caregiver, manifested as "separation anxiety." It was unclear whether such sophistication of attachment system occurs in non-human mammals. To seek a mouse model of separation anxiety, we utilized a primitive attachment behavior, the Transport Response, in that both human and mouse newborns immediately stop crying and stay immobile to cooperate with maternal carrying.

Transport Response is a filial-specific behavioral response to maternal carrying in C57BL/6 mice.

Background: A mother carries her young in many altricial mammals, such as cats, lions, rats and mice. During maternal carrying, the transported young assume a compact posture. We have recently shown that, in both humans and mice, the carried infants immediately calmed down and showed reductions in heart rate, distress vocalizations, and voluntary movement.

Infant calming responses during maternal carrying in humans and mice.

Background: Mother-infant bonding is the earliest and most critical social relationship of mammalian infants. To promote this bond, infants have innate behaviors to seek maternal proximity and protest upon separation via communication with the mother vocally and through body movement. However, the physiological mechanisms regulating these infant behaviors remain largely undefined.

The frequency of magnesium consumption directly influences its serum concentration and the amount of elutable bone magnesium in rats.

We investigated the influence of Mg feeding frequency on the variation in serum Mg concentration and tissue Mg levels in Mg-deficient rats. Sprague-Dawley rats, which had been fed a Mg-deficient diet for 14 d, were divided into 3 groups that were kept on 3 diets differing in their Mg content. The rats were fed 0.

Absence of negative feedback on intestinal magnesium absorption on excessive magnesium administration in rats.

This study aimed to clarify the regulatory mechanism of Mg homeostasis on administration of excessive Mg in rats. Six-week-old male Wistar rats (n=30) were fed a Mg-deficient diet (D) or a control diet (M) in addition to which they received subcutaneous injections of saline (S) or additional Mg (M) for 14 d. Feces and urine were collected from the rats for 4 d every week.