Citation

Schneider JS, Stone MK, Wynne-Edwards KE, Horton TH, Lydon J, O'Malley B, Levine JE. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2003; 100(5): 2951-2956.

Affiliation

Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, National Academy of Sciences)

DOI

10.1073/pnas.0130100100

PMID

12601162

PMCID

PMC151447

Abstract

Neuroendocrine mechanisms that mediate male aggression toward infants are poorly understood. Although testosterone is known to enhance aggression in other social contexts, evidence that it modulates aggression toward infants is equivocal. We have found that male progesterone receptor knockout (PRKO) mice exhibit no infanticidal behavior and little aggression toward young. Male PRKO mice also display significantly enhanced parental behaviors. In wild-type mice, blockade of PR induces a behavioral phenotype similar to that of the PRKO males, whereas progesterone exacerbates aggressive tendencies toward infants. Aggressive behaviors directed toward adult males, by contrast, are unaffected by progesterone, PR antagonism, or PR gene deletion. Previously thought to be of diminished importance in male animals, PRs play a critical and specific role in modulating infant-directed behaviors in male mice.

Language: en