Figure 4. Freezing suppression by oxytocin in central amygdala in PP19-21 dams allows alternate maternal defensive behaviors and mother-pup interactions during threat.
(A) Schematic of experimental design. (B) Schematic of coronal sections (adapted from Paxino and Watson’s atlas) with empty black and red circles corresponding to PBS and OTA cannula placements, respectively. (C) Raster plot showing behaviors of PP19-21 dams during test to the conditioned odor. Each row corresponds to one dam. Dams are sorted by treatment; OXT antagonist (n = 7) or CONT (n = 17; 10 intact dams, above dashed line, and 10 PBS-dams, below dashed line; more dams belong to the control group because a subset was used for the transmission of fear from mother to pup experiment (Figure 5)). Colors correspond to behaviors exhibited. Black triangles indicate time of odor presentations. (D) Line graph shows timecourse of immobility (top), responses toward threat (middle) and toward pup (bottom) exhibited by PP19-21 dam that received OTA injections or CONT dams (average and ± SEM). Vertical dashed lines indicate presentation of conditioned odor. Box plots show change in these behaviors displayed by OTA and CONT dams upon odor exposure. *** denotes p<0.001.