The maternal brain: influences of hormones, neuropeptides and environment on maternal care

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Motherhood is both behaviorally and energetically challenging for all female mammals. The ability of the female to meet these demands will determine how well her young survive and have longlasting effects on both their physiology and behavior. Not surprisingly there are quite dramatic changes in the maternal brain that facilitate the females' ability to cope with the demands of motherhood. A major goal of my research program is to use an animal model to identify the way in which the mother's hormones influence these brain changes so as to prepare her for the tasks of rearing young. We also investigate the way that environmental variables can influence the effects of hormonal state on the brain as well as precisely how these changes in the maternal brain affect the mother's behavior. These studies are important in two ways:1) there is sufficient overlap between species that the results from studies in rats may be applicable across a number of species including those important in agriculture such as sheep and cows as well as humans, 2) these studies allow us to understand how malleable the brain is and the diverse pathways through which hormones can influence both its structure and function.