Table 2.

Brain vasopressin as a regulator of maternal aggression in rats and mice. AVP, arginine vasopressin; HAB/LAB, Wistar rat of the breeding line for high/low anxiety-related behaviour; MA, maternal aggression; SD, Sprague–Dawley; V1a-A, V1a receptor antagonist; V1a^−/−, V1a receptor knock-out; V1b^−/−, V1b receptor knock-out; ---, not different to control; ↑, increase compared with control; ↓, decrease compared with control (control refers to wild-type mice (V1a^−/−, V1b^−/−) or vehicle-treated animals).

species	brain region	strain	AVP release during MA	condition/treatment	change in MA
mouse		C57BL/6J		V1a−/−	--- [118]
				V1b−/−	↓ [119]
rat	lateral ventricle	HAB		V1a-A	↓ [41]
		LAB		AVP	↑ [41]
		SD		V1a-A	↑ [121,122]
		SD		AVP	↓ [121,122]
	paraventricular nucleus	HAB	--- [41]
		LAB	--- [41]
		SD	↑ [39]
	central amygdala	HAB	↑ [41,120]	V1a-A	↓ [41,120]
		LAB	--- [41,120]	AVP	↑ [41,120]
	bed nucleus of the stria terminalis	Wistar		V1a-A	↓ [111]
		SD	↑ [39]
	lateral septum	SD	↑ [39]