Date of Award

5-1-2024

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Damian G Zuloaga

Committee Members

Christine Wagner, Andrew Poulos

Keywords

Corticosterone, CRFR1, Maternal, Oxytocin, Postpartum, Stress

Subject Categories

Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Abstract

The postpartum period is a time of adaptiveness for new mothers who have to not only maintain their own health and well-being, but also that of a brand-new life. In both humans and across various common laboratory species like rats, mice, and non-human primates, priorities must shift greatly for a new mother to now include initiation and maintenance of offspring-focused behaviors regardless of her circumstances.The neurobiology of this adaptivity includes a complex sequence of changes that amount to suppression of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 (CRFR1) is a receptor involved with initiating the physiological stress response and is important for stress- and maternal-related behaviors. Relatedly, oxytocin is commonly implicated in maternal stress buffering to continue maternal behaviors like nursing. With the sudden expression of CRFR1 in oxytocin neurons in hypothalamic brain regions during the postpartum period, we have turned to exploring how this unique receptor co-localization might be important for the shifting priorities of mothers across the postpartum period. We are interested in determining what specific factors of the postpartum period contribute to the appearance of CRFR1 in oxytocin neurons and how they might work to influence circulating oxytocin hormone release following stress. Since these receptors are integral to the stress response, we also will investigate the impact of chronic stress, a common condition of human mothers, on these co-localized neurons and maternal behaviors. After being subjected to these same stressors as offspring, we will also explore the possibility that these neurons and behaviors might be altered once these stressed offspring become mothers themselves. Finally, we will begin an examination of what changes might be happening in another receptor for CRF, CRFR2 during the early postpartum period.

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