'Experienced' mouse mothers tutor other females to parent, helped by
hormone oxytocin

Date:
August 11, 2021
Source:
NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Summary:
Watching a mother mouse gather her pups into the family's nest
trains other female mice without pups to perform the same parenting
task, a new study shows. Furthermore, these observations lead to
the production of oxytocin in the brains of virgin female mice,
biochemically shaping their maternal behaviors even before they
have pups of their own.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Watching a mother mouse gather her pups into the family's nest trains
other female mice without pups to perform the same parenting task,
a new study shows.

Furthermore, these observations lead to the production of oxytocin in
the brains of virgin female mice, biochemically shaping their maternal behaviors even before they have pups of their own.


==========================================================================
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new set of experiments involved round-the-clock filming of female mice interacting
with their newborns as well as with virgin mice. Simultaneous electrical readings were made in several brain regions known to produce oxytocin
or thought to be responding to the hormone. The research team built on
its earlier studies of the so-called pleasure hormone showing that the
release of oxytocin is essential not only for the onset of nursing but
also for the initiating of other maternal behaviors.

Publishing in the journal Nature online Aug. 11, researchers describe
what they called a never-before-seen behavior in which new mouse mothers
would without prompting shepherd virgin female mice into the family's
nest along with their pups. Within 24 hours, the virgins began mimicking
the maternal behavior of gathering the mom's pups into the nest even
if the mother was not there. Almost as quickly, virgin mice would also
start to perform the pup-retrieving task without any direct contact with
an experienced mouse mother and after having only "viewed" the mother
through a clear plastic window.

The research team also measured brain electrical activity in virgin mice
during shepherding and later when they became mothers on their own. They
found that both the sight and sound of crying pups moved outside of their
nest stimulated oxytocin production in a specific region of the brain,
the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). By contrast, chemically blocking any of the visual, auditory, or oxytocin-producing PVN nerve
pathways prevented virgin mice from learning to take care of pups.

"Our study shows that in mice the best way to be a mom is to watch and
learn from an experienced mom," says study senior investigator Robert
Froemke, PhD, a professor in the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular
Medicine at NYU Langone Health. "Given the evidence, we propose that
similar mechanisms operate in human mothers." Froemke says the study
findings in rodents add scientific evidence to the benefits observed from parenting classes in humans. He says the team next plans to examine if
the same tutoring relationship exists among dad mice and virgin males.

"This work redefines oxytocin's role in brain function, broadening its
impact to include formidable and complex social networking activities
that force the brain to pay attention and adapt to its surroundings
at the time, whether it's reacting to the sound of a pup's cries or
feelings of happiness," says Froemke, who also serves as a professor in
the departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Neuroscience
and Physiology at NYU Langone.

As part of the ongoing study, researchers analyzed nearly 5,000 hours
(over six months) of video footage of several dozen mother mice
interacting with their pups and with virgin mice.

Funding for the study was provided by NIH grants R01 HD088411, R01
DC12557, U19 NS107616, K99 MH106744, F32 MH112232, T32 MH019524, P30
CA016087, and P41 EB017183. Additional funding support was provided
by Japan's Strategic Program for Brain Sciences grant 16K15698; and scholarships from the McKnight Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts,
and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by NYU_Langone_Health_/_NYU_Grossman_School_of_Medicine.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Carcea, I., Caraballo, N.L., Marlin, B.J. et al. Oxytocin neurons
enable
social transmission of maternal behaviour. Nature, 2021 DOI:
10.1038/ s41586-021-03814-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210811113151.htm

--- up 13 weeks, 5 days, 22 hours, 45 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)