Functional circuit architecture underlying parental behaviour

Johannes Kohl, Benedicte M. Babayan, Nimrod D. Rubinstein, Anita E. Autry, Brenda Marin-Rodriguez, Vikrant Kapoor, Kazunari Miyamishi, Larry S. Zweifel, Liqun Luo, Naoshige Uchida and Catherine Dulac ()
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Johannes Kohl: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Benedicte M. Babayan: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Nimrod D. Rubinstein: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Anita E. Autry: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Brenda Marin-Rodriguez: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Vikrant Kapoor: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Kazunari Miyamishi: Stanford University
Larry S. Zweifel: University of Washington
Liqun Luo: Stanford University
Naoshige Uchida: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Catherine Dulac: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University

Nature, 2018, vol. 556, issue 7701, 326-331

Abstract: Abstract Parenting is essential for the survival and wellbeing of mammalian offspring. However, we lack a circuit-level understanding of how distinct components of this behaviour are coordinated. Here we investigate how galanin-expressing neurons in the medial preoptic area (MPOAGal) of the hypothalamus coordinate motor, motivational, hormonal and social aspects of parenting in mice. These neurons integrate inputs from a large number of brain areas and the activation of these inputs depends on the animal’s sex and reproductive state. Subsets of MPOAGal neurons form discrete pools that are defined by their projection sites. While the MPOAGal population is active during all episodes of parental behaviour, individual pools are tuned to characteristic aspects of parenting. Optogenetic manipulation of MPOAGal projections mirrors this specificity, affecting discrete parenting components. This functional organization, reminiscent of the control of motor sequences by pools of spinal cord neurons, provides a new model for how discrete elements of a social behaviour are generated at the circuit level.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0027-0

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