Neural Circuitry and Plasticity for Maternal Behavior

母亲照顾后代需要迅速的神经行为变化，包括专门的神经回路内的可塑性 用于处理婴儿的信号，如哭声。神经内分泌信号对神经可塑性很重要，包括 释放多肽激素催产素。催产素是从下丘脑释放出来的，对 分娩和哺乳。催产素也在大脑中起作用，据信它会增加社交活动的显着性 信息，加强配对关系和母性行为。临床研究表明催产素是一种很有前途的 治疗剂，患者有时会更成功地参与社会互动。有一个很高的 虐待和忽视儿童的比率，但培训方案和干预措施教会父母发现和 对社会信号的回应取得了一些成功。这些疗法将受益于理解 婴儿社交线索、催产素调节和神经可塑性之间的交互作用与母亲的行为有关。 在这项建议中，我们将研究催产素在脑内的神经回路、可塑性和行为影响。 小鼠母性行为的背景。我们通过以下方法研究婴儿超声发声时的神经行为反应 母体照顾者，这需要幼崽的经验，并由催产素促进。我们会研究 与母亲同住的幼稚雌性首次表达的基于听觉的母性行为序列 还有小狗。中心假设是，与母狗或幼崽的社交接触会释放催产素，与幼崽相互作用 诱导听觉皮质可塑性的呼声。我们将使用活体记录和成像，结合行为 以及光遗传学，在我们过去工作的基础上，研究催产素和狗叫声是如何改变大脑皮层的 大脑皮层的可塑性和调节。在目标1中，我们测量了共居期间听觉皮质的活动， 对皮质可塑性的提取行为。在目标2中，我们研究了催产素如何调节兴奋性和抑制性。 用于处理听觉社会信号的细胞和突触。最后，在目标3中，我们询问催产素是如何适当的 由婴儿信号释放，以启动这些听觉皮质变化，并在新生的- 母鼠。 综上所述，这里我们将使用行为实验结合光遗传学和活体记录 询问催产素是如何释放并影响听觉皮质的，从而使母亲能够识别婴儿的求救信号。 这些实验将提供有关神经电路和功能的基本和迫切需要的数据 催产素信号在哺乳动物大脑中的后果，这是一个深刻而长期存在的问题 神经科学：特定的神经回路是如何专门处理感觉和母性行为的？

Maternal care of offspring requires rapid neurobehavioral changes, including plasticity within circuits specialized for processing infant cues such as crying. Neuroendocrine signals are important for neuroplasticity, including release of the peptide hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is released from the hypothalamus and is important for childbirth and lactation. Oxytocin also acts in the brain where it is believed to increase the salience of social information, enhancing pair bonding and maternal behavior. Clinical studies suggest that oxytocin is a promising therapeutic agent, with patients sometimes engaging more successfully in social interactions. There is a high rate of child maltreatment and neglect, but training programs and interventions that teach parents to detect and respond to social signals have had some success. These therapies would benefit from understanding the interactions between infant social cues, oxytocin modulation, and neuroplasticity relevant for maternal behaviors. In this proposal, we will study the neural circuitry, plasticity, and behavioral effects of oxytocin in the context of maternal behavior in mice. We study neurobehavioral responses to infant ultrasonic vocalizations by maternal caregivers, which requires experience with pups and is facilitated by oxytocin. We will study the sequence of auditory-based maternal behaviors first expressed by pup-naïve females co-housed with mothers and pups. The central hypothesis is that social contact with dam or pups releases oxytocin, interacting with pup calls to induce plasticity in auditory cortex. We will use in vivo recording and imaging, combined with behavior and optogenetics to examine how cortex is modified by oxytocin and pup call sounds, building on our past work on cortical plasticity and modulation. In Aim 1 we measure activity in auditory cortex during co-housing, relating retrieval behavior to cortical plasticity. In Aim 2, we examine the how oxytocin modulates excitatory and inhibitory cells and synapses for processing auditory social signals. Finally in Aim 3 we ask how oxytocin is appropriately released by infant cues, to initiate these auditory cortical changes and shape maternal behavior in newly- maternal mice. In summary, here we will use behavioral experiments combined with optogenetics and in vivo recordings to ask how oxytocin is released and affects auditory cortex, to enable maternal recognition of infant distress calls. These experiments will provide fundamental and urgently-needed data on the neural circuitry and functional consequences of oxytocin signaling in the mammalian brain, in the context of a deep and long-standing question in neuroscience: how are specific neural circuits specialized for sensory processing and maternal behavior?