| Title |
Tuning the brain for motherhood: prolactin-like central signalling in virgin, pregnant, and lactating female mice
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Brain Structure and Function, June 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00429-016-1254-5 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Hugo Salais-López, Enrique Lanuza, Carmen Agustín-Pavón, Fernando Martínez-García |
| Abstract |
Prolactin is fundamental for the expression of maternal behaviour. In virgin female rats, prolactin administered upon steroid hormone priming accelerates the onset of maternal care. By contrast, the role of prolactin in mice maternal behaviour remains unclear. This study aims at characterizing central prolactin activity patterns in female mice and their variation through pregnancy and lactation. This was revealed by immunoreactivity of phosphorylated (active) signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (pSTAT5-ir), a key molecule in the signalling cascade of prolactin receptors. We also evaluated non-hypophyseal lactogenic activity during pregnancy by administering bromocriptine, which suppresses hypophyseal prolactin release. Late-pregnant and lactating females showed significantly increased pSTAT5-ir resulting in a widespread pattern of immunostaining with minor variations between pregnant and lactating animals, which comprises nuclei of the sociosexual and maternal brain, including telencephalic (septum, nucleus of the stria terminalis, and amygdala), hypothalamic (preoptic, paraventricular, supraoptic, and ventromedial), and midbrain (periaqueductal grey) regions. During late pregnancy, this pattern was not affected by the administration of bromocriptine, suggesting it to be elicited mostly by non-hypophyseal lactogenic agents, likely placental lactogens. Virgin females displayed, instead, a variable pattern of pSTAT5-ir restricted to a subset of the brain nuclei labelled in pregnant and lactating mice. A hormonal substitution experiment confirmed that estradiol and progesterone contribute to the variability found in virgin females. Our results reflect how the shaping of the maternal brain takes place prior to parturition and suggest that lactogenic agents are important candidates in the development of maternal behaviours already during pregnancy. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 21 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 6 | 29% |
| Argentina | 1 | 5% |
| Germany | 1 | 5% |
| New Zealand | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown | 12 | 57% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 19 | 90% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 5% |
| Scientists | 1 | 5% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 72 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 72 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 19% |
| Student > Bachelor | 10 | 14% |
| Student > Master | 7 | 10% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 8% |
| Researcher | 6 | 8% |
| Other | 14 | 19% |
| Unknown | 15 | 21% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Neuroscience | 17 | 24% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 10 | 14% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 9 | 13% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 7 | 10% |
| Psychology | 5 | 7% |
| Other | 6 | 8% |
| Unknown | 18 | 25% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 29. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 November 2023.
All research outputs
#1,352,283
of 25,845,749 outputs
Outputs from Brain Structure and Function
#78
of 2,054 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#24,748
of 371,235 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Brain Structure and Function
#1
of 32 outputs
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So far Altmetric has tracked 2,054 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
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