Date of Award
5-1996
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Morphine significantly impairs maternal behavior; N aloxone, an opiate antagonist, restores it. Maternal behavior is associated with c-fos expression, an immediate early gene product, in medial preoptic area (mPOA) of females. In this series of experiments, the effects of morphine and Naloxone on the expression of c-fos were examined. On postpartum day 5 or 6, females were injected with morphine or saline ( Exp. 1 ), or morphine+Naloxone or morphine+saline (Exp. 2) and placed back in the homepage, separated from their pups by a wire-mesh partition. Sixty minutes later processing for cfos immunohistochemistry commenced. The c-fos positive cells in a proscribed portion of mPOA were counted. Morphine-treated females had fewer c-fos cells in mPOA compared to saline-treated females. Further, morphine+Naloxone-treated females expressed more cfos cells compared to morphine+saline females. Morphine-treated females, therefore, may exhibit reductions in MB because of relative opiate-induced inactivation of areas of the brain devoted to the regulation of maternal behavior.
Recommended Citation
Stafisso-Sandoz, Graciela, "Morphine disruption of maternal behavior and modifications of underlying neural activity" (1996). Master's Theses. 987.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/987