Biomaterial Database

Anxiety and maternal aggression in house mice (Mus musculus): a look at interindividual variability. 1991

D Maestripieri, and F R D'Amato

Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Rome, Italy.

The hypotheses were tested that mouse motherhood is accompanied by decreased reactivity to aversive stimuli and that female anxiety is inversely related to the probability of displaying intense forms of postpartum aggression. Outbred Swiss female mice were tested for anxiety in a light/dark choice test when virgin, pregnant, or lactating, and then tested for maternal aggression (5-min exposure to a male intruder) on postpartum Day 7. Anxiety declined in pregnant and lactating females when compared with virgin animals. Furthermore, females who displayed higher scores of postpartum fighting were less anxious in the previous test regardless of reproductive stage. Part of interindividual variability in postpartum aggression might thus be related to differences in the extent to which individuals perceive and react to anxiogenic situations. In addition, the higher emotionality characterizing the C57BL/6 and DBA/2 inbred strains may be responsible for the lack of a clear-cut exhibition of maternal aggression in these two strains.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007774	Lactation	The processes of milk secretion by the maternal MAMMARY GLANDS after PARTURITION. The proliferation of the mammary glandular tissue, milk synthesis, and milk expulsion or let down are regulated by the interactions of several hormones including ESTRADIOL; PROGESTERONE; PROLACTIN; and OXYTOCIN.	Lactation, Prolonged,Milk Secretion,Lactations, Prolonged,Milk Secretions,Prolonged Lactation,Prolonged Lactations
D008425	Maternal Behavior	The behavior patterns associated with or characteristic of a mother.	Maternal Patterns of Care,Maternal Care Patterns,Behavior, Maternal,Behaviors, Maternal,Care Pattern, Maternal,Care Patterns, Maternal,Maternal Behaviors,Maternal Care Pattern,Pattern, Maternal Care,Patterns, Maternal Care
D008815	Mice, Inbred Strains	Genetically identical individuals developed from brother and sister matings which have been carried out for twenty or more generations, or by parent x offspring matings carried out with certain restrictions. All animals within an inbred strain trace back to a common ancestor in the twentieth generation.	Inbred Mouse Strains,Inbred Strain of Mice,Inbred Strain of Mouse,Inbred Strains of Mice,Mouse, Inbred Strain,Inbred Mouse Strain,Mouse Inbred Strain,Mouse Inbred Strains,Mouse Strain, Inbred,Mouse Strains, Inbred,Strain, Inbred Mouse,Strains, Inbred Mouse
D011247	Pregnancy	The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.	Gestation,Pregnancies
D005260	Female		Females
D000374	Aggression	Behavior which may be manifested by destructive and attacking action which is verbal or physical, by covert attitudes of hostility or by obstructionism.	Aggressions
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001007	Anxiety	Feelings or emotions of dread, apprehension, and impending disaster but not disabling as with ANXIETY DISORDERS.	Angst,Anxiousness,Hypervigilance,Nervousness,Social Anxiety,Anxieties, Social,Anxiety, Social,Social Anxieties
D001143	Arousal	Cortical vigilance or readiness of tone, presumed to be in response to sensory stimulation via the reticular activating system.	Vigilance, Cortical,Arousals,Cortical Vigilance
D013045	Species Specificity	The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species.	Species Specificities,Specificities, Species,Specificity, Species