Maternal feelings shown holding her son apparently formed by a gene. Researchers from Rockefeller University in New York, USA, have discovered the existence of genes that are responsible for feelings of maternal rats.
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| Mouse in a laboratory. (Picture from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) |
They found that mice engineered to suppress the expression "maternal gene" spend a little time to lick, feeding, and cleaning up their child. These conditions contrast with the rats from the control group who care for her child.
"There is a single gene responsible for motivating the parent to protect, feed, and raise their children," said study leader, Ana Ribiero, in findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday September 19, 2012.
Previous research shows that there are regions in the rat brain called the medial preoptic, in charge of controlling aggression, sexual acceptance and care by the parent. However, what about the chemical mechanisms that affect the behavior, it is yet unclear.
Ribiero says, citing previous research, the nerve cells respond to estrogen, a female sex hormone-containing receptor alpha and estrogen in high levels. These chemicals are linked to the behavior of rat maternal care and sexual behavior.
"We lowered the level of the receptor in the medial preoptic female rats to examine the response of those without it," he said, as quoted by the Telegraph. The research team conducted experiments based on this fact.
As a result, mice with low levels of receptors in the brain to spend less time caring for their children. However, it did not affect the aggressiveness.
According Ribiero, manipulation of specific genes in specific nerve cell groups can drastically alter the expression of important biological behavior. *** [TELEGRAPH | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4002]
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