Topic: maternal bond

The first and probably most important bond is between a mother and her infant promoting their psychological and physiological well-being. Here, the “pro-maternal” oxytocin system as well as the “anti-maternal” CRF system are strongly involved in the formation and maintenance of this maternal bond. Losing a child is a severely stressful experience that dramatically affects the maternal brain, and those neuropeptide systems are promising candidates concerning the underlying emotional and behavioral consequences. Our study endeavored to investigate the changes in rat mothers' CRF system activity