Switching mechanism to activate the medial preoptic area for fatherhood

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26282220
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: KURODA KUMI 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, チームリーダー (90391945)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): Amano Taiju 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 基礎科学特別研究員 (00591950) ; Yoshihara Chihiro 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 研究員 (10647506) ; Tokita Kenichi 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 研究員 (70384188)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 親子関係 / 養育行動 / 子殺し / 父性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We demonstrated that the c-Fos expression pattern in the four nuclei of the preoptic-bed nuclei of stria terminalis (BST) region could robustly discriminate five kinds of previous social behavior of male mice (parenting, infanticide, mating, inter-male aggression, solitary control). Specifically, neuronal activation in the central part of the medial preoptic area (cMPOA) and rhomboid nucleus of the BST (BSTrh) retroactively detected paternal and infanticidal motivation with a 97% accuracy. Moreover cMPOA lesions switched behavior in fathers from paternal to infanticidal, while BSTrh lesions inhibited infanticide in virgin males. The projections from cMPOA to BSTrh were largely GABAergic. Optogenetic or pharmacogenetic activation of cMPOA attenuated infanticide in virgin males. Taken together, this study identifies the preoptic-BST nuclei underlying social motivations in male mice, and reveals unexpected complexity in the circuit connecting these nuclei.

Free Research Field

神経科学・行動科学