Spontaneous brain processing of the mammary pheromone in rabbit neonates prior to milk intake

Schneider, Nanette Y.; Piccin, Coralie; Datiche, Frédérique; Coureaud, Gérard

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2016.07.014

Cited by 13 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…, ; Schneider et al. ,b). The study was carried out in accordance with ethical rules enforced by French law and was supported by ethical committee authorisation no.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…; at day of birth: Schneider et al. ) as to novel or conditioned odours (Allingham et al. ; Charra et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, ; Schneider et al. ,b) and shows feeding‐entrained anticipatory metabolic activity in 7‐day‐old pups (Olivo et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Schneider et al. ,b). Moreover, fMRI studies only show relatively low resolution images of the brain from 4 to 40 weeks after birth (Lim et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In rabbit pups, such an exploration has been conducted on postnatal days 0 (day of birth; Schneider et al. ) and 4 (Charra et al. ), i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brain anatomy of the 4‐day‐old European rabbit

2018

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The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a widely used model in fundamental, medical and veterinary neurosciences. Besides investigations in adults, rabbit pups are relevant to study perinatal neurodevelopment and early behaviour. To date, the rabbit is also the only species in which a pheromone - the mammary pheromone (MP) - emitted by lactating females and active on neonatal adaptation has been described. The MP is crucial since it contributes directly to nipple localisation and oral seizing in neonates, i.e. to their sucking success. It may also be one of the non-photic cues arising from the mother, which stimulates synchronisation of the circadian system during pre-visual developmental stages. Finally, the MP promotes neonatal odour associative and appetitive conditioning in a remarkably rapid and efficient way. For these different reasons, the rabbit offers a currently unique opportunity to determine pheromonal-induced brain processing supporting adaptation early in life. Therefore, it is of interest to create a reference work of the newborn rabbit pup brain, which may constitute a tool for future multi-disciplinary and multi-approach research in this model, and allow comparisons related to the neuroethological basis of social and feeding behaviour among newborns of various species. Here, in line with existing experimental studies, and based on original observations, we propose a functional anatomical description of brain sections in 4-day-old rabbits with a particular focus on seven brain regions which appear important for neonatal perception of sensory signals emitted by the mother, circadian adaptation to the short and single daily nursing of the mother in the nest, and expression of specific motor actions involved in nipple localisation and milk intake. These brain regions involve olfactory circuits, limbic-related areas important in reward, motivation, learning and memory formation, homeostatic areas engaged in food anticipation, and regions implicated in circadian rhythm and arousal, as well as in motricity.

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“…, ; Schneider et al. ,b). The study was carried out in accordance with ethical rules enforced by French law and was supported by ethical committee authorisation no.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…; at day of birth: Schneider et al. ) as to novel or conditioned odours (Allingham et al. ; Charra et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, ; Schneider et al. ,b) and shows feeding‐entrained anticipatory metabolic activity in 7‐day‐old pups (Olivo et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Schneider et al. ,b). Moreover, fMRI studies only show relatively low resolution images of the brain from 4 to 40 weeks after birth (Lim et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In rabbit pups, such an exploration has been conducted on postnatal days 0 (day of birth; Schneider et al. ) and 4 (Charra et al. ), i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brain anatomy of the 4‐day‐old European rabbit

2018

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Developmental changes in elemental and configural perception of odor mixtures in young rabbits

Coureaud

Letagneaux

Thomas‐Danguin

et al. 2019

Developmental Psychobiology

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Development can change the way organisms represent their environment and affect their behavior. In vision, complex stimuli are treated as the sum of their elements (elemental perception) in children or as a whole (configural perception) in adults. However, the influence of development in elemental/configural perception has never been tested in olfaction. Here we explored this issue in young rabbits, which are known to perceive during the neonatal period certain binary odor mixtures elementally and others weak configurally. Using conditioning and behavioral testing procedures, we set out six experiments evaluating the putative evolution of their odor perception between birth and weaning. Results highlighted that between postnatal days 2 and 9 the perception of an initially weak configural mixture became robust configural while that of two elemental mixtures did not. Additional switches from elemental to configural perception were observed at postnatal day 24. The use of a chemically more complex senary mixture resulted also in a shift from weak to robust configural perception between postnatal days 2 and 9. Thus, the perception of certain odor mixtures may rapidly evolve toward a more holistic mode in young rabbits, which may help simplifying their representation of the environment once out of the nest. K E Y W O R D Sbehavior, configural perception, European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), newborn, odor mixture, olfaction, weaning

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