Anatomical and functional analysis of medial preoptic area of hypothalamus, the center of mammalian parental behavior

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The brain center of parental behavior is believed to locate in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) of hypothalamus. The present study demonstrated that neurons of anterior commissural nucleus in the dorsolateral MPOA showed the activation during the parental behavior in mice. ACN contained oxytocin (OXT) and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) immunoreactive neurons. We examined the parental behavior using OXT or TRH knockout mice and double knockout mice. Nest building and pup retrieving behaviors were used as an index for the evaluation of parental behavior. In the preliminary results, however, any significant difference in the parental behavior of the OXT and TRH double knockout mice could not be detected. Further studies with higher sensitivity will be needed in future.