Fig. 2: Lactating females displayed increasing levels of maternal aggression across testing days, whereas pup-sensitised females did not develop intruder-directed aggression. | Communications Biology

Fig. 2: Lactating females displayed increasing levels of maternal aggression across testing days, whereas pup-sensitised females did not develop intruder-directed aggression.

From: Inhibition of the medial amygdala disrupts escalated aggression in lactating female mice after repeated exposure to male intruders

Fig. 2

a Total duration of attacks averaged across testing days was significantly higher in dams than in pup-sensitised virgins. a’ In lactating females, repeated testing leads to an increase in the total duration of attacks. a” Attacks were negligible in pup-sensitised females across testing days. b The latency to attack was significantly shorter in lactating females than in pup-sensitised virgin females. b’ In lactating females, the latency to the first attack was significantly shorter on the second day of testing than on the first. b” Since attacks were negligible in pup-sensitised females, latency to attack did not change across testing. c, d Social investigation was significantly higher in pup-sensitised females than in lactating dams, and did not significantly change across testing days, except for a trend towards decreased anogenital investigation in lactating dams (c’). Data are represented as mean ± SEM. **p ≤ 0.01, *p < 0.05, #p = 0.058.

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