Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 167, Issue 2, 5 May 2010, Pages 216-231
Neuroscience

Behavioural Neuroscience
Research Paper
The medial preoptic area is necessary for motivated choice of pup- over cocaine-associated environments by early postpartum rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.02.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Converging evidence suggests that the motivation to seek cocaine during the postpartum period is significantly impacted by the competing incentives of offspring, a stimulus unique to this life stage. In the present study, the functional role of the medial preoptic area (mPOA), a critical site involved in maternal responsiveness, on processing incentive value of pup-associated cues and influencing response allocation for pup- over cocaine-associated environments was investigated using a concurrent pup/cocaine choice conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Early postpartum females with bilateral guide cannulae aimed into the mPOA or into anatomical control sites were conditioned, from postpartum days (PPD) 4 to 7, to associate different uniquely featured environments with pups or cocaine. CPP was tested on PPD8 following intra-mPOA infusions of either 2% bupivacaine or saline vehicle. In two additional experiments, the effects of intra-mPOA infusions of bupivacaine on expression of conditioned responding induced by environments associated with either pups or cocaine were examined separately. Transient inactivation of the mPOA selectively blocked the conditioned preferences for pup-associated environments, significantly contrasting the robust pup-CPP found in non-surgical and intra-mPOA vehicle-treated females. In contrast, mPOA inactivation failed to alter cocaine-CPP in postpartum females. When given a choice between environments associated with pups or cocaine, transient functional inactivation of the mPOA altered choice behavior, biasing the preference of females toward cocaine-associated environments, such that almost all preferred cocaine- and none the pup-associated option. The anatomical specificity was revealed when inactivation of adjacent regions to the mPOA did not affect CPP responses for pups. The findings support a critical role for the mPOA in mediating pup-seeking behavior, and further suggest that the competing properties of pups over alternative incentives, including drugs of abuse, rely on mPOA integrity to provide relevant pup-related information to the circuitry underlying the choice behavior between pups and alternative stimuli.

Section snippets

Animals

All subjects were primiparous postpartum Sprague-Dawley female rats (original stock from Charles River Laboratories, Kingston, NY, USA) bred in our colony at the Rutgers University Laboratory Animal Facility (accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care). Before giving birth, pregnant females were housed in individual cages (25.5 cm wide×47 cm long×23 cm high) lined with fresh woodchip bedding (Beta chip, Northeastern Products Corp., Warrensburg, NY, USA)

Location of the cannulae implantation site

Figs. 2A,3A, and 4A represent schematic cross sections of the rat brain showing the placement of the injection cannulae tips based on the microscopic analysis of Cresyl Violet-stained sections. Fig. 2A shows the placement of the injection cannula tips for the mPOA (nBUP=10 and nVEH=9) groups tested for pup-CPP, and Fig. 3A shows those for the groups of postpartum females tested for cocaine-CPP (n=12). Fig. 4A shows the location of the mPOA infusion sites for the postpartum groups tested in the

Discussion

The present results indicate that the functional integrity of the mPOA is necessary for the expression of context-induced pup- but not cocaine-seeking behavior. Thus, transient inactivation of the mPOA, produced by infusion of bupivacaine, completely eliminated the ability of pup-associated environmental cues to promote pup-seeking behavior, while conditioned behavioral responses to cocaine-associated stimuli were left intact. When given a choice between environments associated with pups or

Conclusion

In conclusion, the present study has demonstrated that motivation for pups and cocaine can be differentially modulated. A better understanding of the neural substrate underlying response selection among competing alternatives might importantly contribute to developing strategies for combating maternal drug abuse during the postpartum period. The present results strongly suggest that interventions that build upon promoting and/or restoring early mother-infant bonding might be more successful in

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a NARSAD Young Investigator Award and NIH DA027945 awarded to MP and NIH DA014025 awarded to JIM. The authors thank Dr. Andrew M. Farrar and María José Zuluaga, M.Sc. for their support and critical comments on the manuscript, and the Laboratory Animal Facility staff at Rutgers University, Newark Campus for animal breeding and care.

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