Effect of intra-mpBNST CRF-R1 or CRF-R2 specific agonist (ago) or antagonist (ant) treatment on maternal care of lactating dams under nonstress conditions on LD1 (A) and stress conditions on LD5 (B). ABN (top) and sum of nursing (bottom) were scored for 60 min before and for 90 min after infusion (A) or 60 min after maternal defense (B). Under nonstress conditions, ABN and nursing were also observed for additional 60 min in the afternoon (A). Dams received an acute bilateral infusion of VEH (5 μl of sterile Ringer's solution; pH 7.4), CRF-R1 agonist human/rat CRF (CRF-R1 ago; 1 μg/0.5 μl), CRF-R1 antagonist CP-154,526 (CRF-R1 ant; 12 μg/0.5 μl), CRF-R2 agonist stresscopin (CRF-R2 ago; 3 μg/0.5 μl), or CRF-R2 antagonist Astressin-2B (CRF-R2 ant; 4 μg/0.5 μl) into the mpBNST. Data are presented as mean + SEM. n = 8–14 per group. **p ≤ 0.01, *p ≤ 0.05 versus VEH (two-way ANOVA for repeated measures; factors: time × treatment); +p ≤ 0.05, (+) p = 0.08 versus t −100 min (one-way ANOVA for repeated measures; factor: time).