Neuronal mechanism shows how maternal behaviour is learnt

Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna have successfully identified the neuronal circuits in the brain that are activated during the learning of maternal behaviour. Their findings, published in The EMBO Journal, could serve as the basis for developing therapeutic interventions for conditions such as postpartum depression, which can lead to an alteration in maternal behaviour.

Maternal behaviour is defined, among other things, by sensitivity and responsiveness to signals of infant needs. It is instinctively displayed in virtually all mammals upon first contact with newborns immediately after delivery. Of course maternal behaviour can also be learnt, such as in humans in the case of adoptive parents, and species such as rodents may also learn maternal care behaviour towards newborns even when they have never given birth.

In the course of their preclinical investigation, the Vienna scientists analysed maternal behaviour of female mice towards newborn pups. While the neural processes involved in the development of maternal care behaviour in female mice after birth have already been described, the current study addressed the question of which circuits in the brain are activated during the learning of care behaviour in nulliparous virgin females — female mice that have not been pregnant.

The researchers found the answer in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a region in the prefrontal lobe of the brain that is associated, among other things, with the recognition and evaluation of social processes and the development of emotional awareness. The mouse model showed that in females who have not been pregnant or given birth, the ACC gets activated when they acquire maternal behaviour upon first contact with pups.

“Our observations have demonstrated that, through repeated experience with pups, the virgin females are capable of learning maternal behaviour that fully resembles those of mothers after delivery,” said project leader Daniela Pollak. The study revealed that, during this learning process, ACC activity is controlled by an excitatory feedback circuit involving a specific group of neurons in a central brain region (the thalamus).

Pollak hopes the research may go some way to treating pathological conditions such as postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, which disrupt the mother–child bonding process. She said, “By showing that maternal behaviours can be acquired and identifying the underlying neuronal circuits in the brain that control this acquisition, we are creating a potential basis for developing therapeutic options for these clinical situations.”

Image credit: iStock.com/paulaphoto

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