N-methyl-DL-aspartic acid lesions of the medial preoptic area disrupt ongoing parental behavior in male rats.

The effects of axon-sparing, neurotoxic lesions of the medial preoptic area (MPOA) with N-methyl-DL-aspartic acid (NMA) on previously established parental behavior in male rats were investigated. Adult, sexually-inexperienced male rats were gonadectomized and seven days later implanted sc with a single estradiol (E2)-filled Silastic capsule on treatment Day 1. Three progesterone (P4) capsules were implanted sc on treatment Day 3 and removed on Day 21, one day prior to the start of behavioral testing. Males were tested daily with foster pups in order to induce parental behavior, i.e., contacting the test pups, pup retrieval, grouping, and crouching over three foster pups. Full parental behavior appeared in these males after an average of 3 days. After testing on the third consecutive day of parental behavior, parental males were infused bilaterally with either NMA or vehicle into the MPOA. NMA infusions resulted in a significant decline in all components of parental behavior by the next test session, a deficit which persisted throughout the 5 days of post-infusion testing. In contrast, parental care continued to be displayed in animals given vehicle infusions. These findings demonstrate that the cells in the MPOA play an important role in regulating ongoing parental care in male rats and indicate that the neural substrates controlling parental behavior in male and female rats are similar.