Maternal Behaviour

Numan et al

Barry R. Komisaruk
brk@psychology.rutgers.edu

Dear Mike, et al,
I enjoyed your paper, and would just like to indicate supporting evidence for an inhibitory role of the medial amygdala and vomeronasal relays AOB and BAOT, in the sense that we showed a significant DECREASE in 2-DG activity in these structures in female rats that were induced to show maternal behavior by sensitization (Del Cerro, Perez Izquierdo, Rosenblatt, Johnson, Pacheco and Komisaruk, 1995. Brain 2-deoxyglucose levels related to maternal behavior-inducing stimuli in the rat. Brain Research 696: 213-220). Based on these findings, we concluded that these vomeronasal components normally exert a tonic, INHIBITORY effect on maternal behavior, and sensitization therefore DISINHIBITS maternal behavior via these components of the vomeronasal system. These findings were almost unique in that there are almost no other reports, of which we are aware, of a significant DECREASE in 2-dg activity in specific brain regions correlated with a behavior pattern. It's nice to see convergence to the same conclusion via different approaches.
Barry

Wed Dec 16