动物实验 z-bo 2020-09-07 461

　　In the animal kingdom, the reproduction of females is vital to the survival of young people. A study published in the new American journal "Neuron" shows that the "instinct" of female mice to put their pups back into their nests is due to signal conduction in certain nerve cells. Earlier studies found that the "intermediate preoptic zone" of the brain is an important area related to maternal behavior, but the specific neural signal transmission mechanism is still unclear.

　　In this new experiment, Yulin Dayu's research team from the Department of Neuroscience at New York University School of Medicine will study the "middle preoptic area" of the brain when female mice interact with themselves and other "babies." I investigated when a female mouse approached the "little mouse" and put it back into the nest, and found that the electrical signal of a protein called "estrogen receptor alpha" in the "medial preoptic zone" was the most active. After returning to the nest, the level of the electrical signal drops. Studies have shown that when the activity of these cells is chemically blocked, the "protecting the calf" behavior of female mice disappears. When these cellular activities were artificially activated, "naive" female mice showed similar maternal behavior.

　　Lin Dayu, the lead author of the paper, told Xinhua News Agency that "baby mouse" does not work well, so "mother mouse" is her own "baby mouse", and another family is "baby mouse". "I found that I can't distinguish." Rare . However, the "ewe" can be distinguished from yourself and other "babies".

　　The next step for the

　　team is to study what changes in the brains of pregnant and lactating women lead to the active expression of this protein, and whether men have similar mechanisms during this period.