Suckling and genital stroking induces Fos expression in hypothalamic oxytocinergic neurons of rabbit pups

Maternal behaviour in the rabbit is unusual among mammals because the doe visits her litter to nurse once every 24 h. In the present study we examined the consequences of milk intake on oxytocinergic (OT) and vasopressinergic (AVP) neurons of the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei of 7-day-old pups before suckling, after suckling and following anogenital stroking in un-nursed pups. To determine neuronal activation we assessed the expression of the Fos protein combined with antibodies against OT and AVP at two levels in the SON (supraoptic rostral, SOr, and supraoptic retrochiasmatic, SOrch), and three levels in the PVN (anterior, PVab; medial PVm and caudal, PVc). Daily nursing bouts lasted only 228+/-6 s throughout the observed 7 days, and pups ingested up to 34.95+/-9.0% of their body weight in milk on day 7, the day of perfusion. Suckling induced a significant increase in the number of double-labeled Fos/OT cells in both subdivisions of the SON (P<0.01) and in PVab and PVm (P<0.01). The effect in the SON was related to suckling, as it was not seen in stroked, un-nursed pups, which showed Fos increases only in PVab and PVm. All regions in the SON and PVN showed significant increases in the number of Fos/AVP neurons after suckling or stroking but, contrary to OT, the number of double-labeled Fos/AVP cells was very low. In conclusion, our results show that the oxytocinergic system of the SON and PVN is differentially activated by suckling of milk and anogenital stroking, and that the vagal-hypothalamic axis is mature in 7-day-old rabbits. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.