动物实验 z-bo 2020-11-19 362

　　In the animal kingdom, the care of female animals is crucial to the survival of the young. A study published in the new issue of the American journal Neuron shows that the "instinct" of female rats to carry pups back into their nests originates from the signal conduction of a specific nerve cell.

　　Previous studies have found that the "medial preoptic zone" in the brain is an important area related to maternal behavior, but the specific neural signal mechanism is not clear.

　　In this new experiment, the team of Lin Dayu from the Institute of Neuroscience, New York University School of Medicine, investigated the activity of the "medial preoptic area" of the brain when female mice interact with their own and other "babies". It was found that when the female rat approached the "baby mouse" and carried it back to the nest, the electrical signal of a protein called "estrogen receptor alpha" in the "medial preoptic zone" was the most active; once the "baby mouse" Returning to the nest, the level of this electrical signal is reduced.

　　Research found that if the activity of these cells is blocked by chemical means, the "calf guarding" behavior of female mice will disappear. If these cell activities are artificially activated, "naive" female mice will also exhibit similar maternal behavior.

　　The senior author of the paper, Lin Dayu, told Xinhua News Agency reporters that the study found that "mouse mothers" cannot distinguish between their own "mouse babies" and other family's "mouse babies" because "mouse babies" are not strong in mobility, and it is rare that other "mouse babies" appear. . But "Mother Sheep" can be distinguished from her own or other "Baby Sheep". Lin Dayu speculates that this is because the secondary olfactory bulb of "Mother Sheep" is involved in the identification of cubs.

　　She said that the team's next step is to study what changes in the female brain during pregnancy and lactation lead to active expression of this protein, and whether there is a similar mechanism in males during this period.