Maternal programming of reproductive function and behavior in the female rat.
Maternal programming of reproductive function and behavior in the female rat.
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DOI：
10.3389/fnevo.2011.00010
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Cameron, Nicole M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Cameron, Nicole M
亲代投资可以用来预测后代发育到成年的环境条件。在大鼠中，母性行为通过表观遗传修饰（如甲基化和组蛋白乙酰化）传递给下一代，导致雌激素受体α表达的变化。母性照顾的自然变化也影响成年女性在以后的生活中所采取的性策略。较低的母性护理水平与青春期提前、交配动机增加以及在交配过程中更容易接受男性有关。低水平的母性护理也与下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴的更大活动相关，下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴负责表达这些行为。与母性关爱的转变相反，性行为不能简单地用母性关注来解释，因为收养研究改变了低关爱母亲所生后代的性表型，而不是那些高关爱母亲所生后代的性表型。事实上，表现出较高舔/梳理水平的母亲的胚胎在发育过程中暴露于较高的睾丸激素水平，而收养研究表明，这种雄性激素暴露可能会保护它们的后代免受较低水平的母亲照顾。我们认为，在大鼠中，母性护理和子宫内环境相互作用，影响雌性后代成年后的生殖策略，这有利于物种在不同的环境条件下茁壮成长。
Parental investment can be used as a forecast for the environmental conditions in which offspring will develop to adulthood. In the rat, maternal behavior is transmitted to the next generation through epigenetic modifications such as methylation and histone acetylation, resulting in variations in estrogen receptor alpha expression. Natural variations in maternal care also influence the sexual strategy adult females will adopt later in life. Lower levels of maternal care are associated with early onset of puberty as well as increased motivation to mate and greater receptivity toward males during mating. Lower levels of maternal care are also correlated with greater activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis, responsible for the expression of these behaviors. Contrary to the transition of maternal care, sexual behavior cannot simply be explained by maternal attention, since adoption studies changed the sexual phenotypes of offspring born to low caring mothers but not those from high caring dams. Indeed, mothers showing higher levels of licking/grooming have embryos that are exposed to high testosterone levels during development, and adoption studies suggest that this androgen exposure may protect their offspring from lower levels of maternal care. We propose that in the rat, maternal care and the in utero environment interact to influence the reproductive strategy female offspring display in adulthood and that this favors the species by allowing it to thrive under different environmental conditions.