RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neural circuitry for maternal oxytocin release induced by infant cries
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.03.25.436883
DO 10.1101/2021.03.25.436883
A1 Silvana Valtcheva
A1 Habon A. Issa
A1 Kathleen A. Martin
A1 Kanghoon Jung
A1 Hyung-Bae Kwon
A1 Robert C. Froemke
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/25/2021.03.25.436883.abstract
AB Oxytocin is a neuropeptide important for maternal physiology and childcare, including parturition and milk ejection during nursing. Suckling triggers oxytocin release, but other sensory cues- specifically infant cries- can elevate oxytocin levels in new human mothers, indicating that cries can activate hypothalamic oxytocin neurons. Here we describe a neural circuit routing auditory information about infant vocalizations to the oxytocin system of the mouse brain. We performed in vivo electrophysiological recordings and photometry from identified oxytocin neurons in awake maternal mice presented with pup calls. We found that oxytocin neurons responded to pup vocalizations via input from the posterior intralaminar thalamus, and repetitive thalamic stimulation induced lasting disinhibition of oxytocin neurons. Suppression of this pathway impaired maternal behavior and playing pup calls led to central oxytocin release in vivo. This circuit provides a mechanism for transforming acoustic input into hormonal output to ensure modulation of brain state required for successful parenting.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.