| Grant number: | 13/01610-7 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Start date: | September 01, 2014 |
| End date: | August 31, 2015 |
| Field of knowledge: | Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction |
| Principal Investigator: | Luciano Freitas Felicio |
| Grantee: | Luciano Freitas Felicio |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
Abstract
After delivery, the mother should use her time searching for food and caring for young. Survival of newborns may depends on optimizing the amount time spend on each of these activities. Endogenous mechanisms allow the expression of select female behaviors such as feeding the puppies or seek for food. Recent studies have shown that the periaqueductal gray (PAG) is an important area of central regulation of these behaviors and also seems to be one of the sites of action of opioids. However, functional importance of each opioid receptor in the PAG on the expression of maternal and predatory behaviors is still unknown. The ¼ opioid receptor is widely distributed in the brain, having significant expression in the PAG. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to investigate the importance of the role of ¼ opioid receptor in the rostral lateral PAG on the behavioral selection of rats during lactation. Adult female rats will be tested for the functional relevance of the ¼ opioid receptor in the behavioral selection during lactation. Groups will be formed randomly by animals that will be treated with ¼ receptor agonist or antagonist followed by receptor agonist or, only ¼ antagonist being tested for maternal versus predatory behavior. (AU)
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