Presentation Details
| Exploring the role of pup odors in experience dependent maternal behaviors. Sophia Kirkland, Max Fletcher. University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA |
Abstract
Mother mice engage in maternal behaviors such as pup retrieval with high accuracy and low latency. Nulliparous mice typically display little retrieval behavior but can begin retrieving after extended periods of pup exposure, indicating an experience-dependent learning process. While the auditory system plays a major role, previous studies in mice have shown that this behavior is also dependent on a functional main olfactory system. For example, impaired olfactory sensory neurons and piriform cortex lesions both disrupt maternal behaviors suggesting that the main olfactory system is involved. Despite this, little is known regarding how pup odors to contribute to the acquisition of maternal behaviors. To begin exploring this question, we first used a pup exposure paradigm in which pup-naïve nulliparous mice are allowed to interact with pups in the absence of the mother for 2 hours per day. Mice were pup exposed for either one or four consecutive days. After this exposure these mice were tested in a pup retrieval task and their retrieval behavior was compared to that of both non-exposed females and mothers. Overall, we find that four days of exposure produced pup retrieval latencies and accuracies comparable to those of mothers, whereas naïve control mice exhibited longer latencies and increased retrieval errors. Mice with one day of exposure displayed increased retrieval behaviors compared to controls, but less than those in the four-day exposure group suggesting that the acquisition of maternal behaviors in nulliparous mice is dependent on the amount of time interacting with pups. Current work is focused on exploring whether pup odor alone can drive behavior changes and the role a functional main olfactory system plays in both the acquisition and expression of pup retrieval behaviors.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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