Calcitonin receptor signaling in the medial preoptic area enables risk-taking maternal care.
Cell Rep
; 35(9): 109204, 2021 06 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34077719
ABSTRACT
Maternal mammals exhibit heightened motivation to care for offspring, but the underlying neuromolecular mechanisms have yet to be clarified. Here, we report that the calcitonin receptor (Calcr) and its ligand amylin are expressed in distinct neuronal populations in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and are upregulated in mothers. Calcr+ MPOA neurons activated by parental care project to somatomotor and monoaminergic brainstem nuclei. Retrograde monosynaptic tracing reveals that significant modification of afferents to Calcr+ neurons occurs in mothers. Knockdown of either Calcr or amylin gene expression hampers risk-taking maternal care, and specific silencing of Calcr+ MPOA neurons inhibits nurturing behaviors, while pharmacogenetic activation prevents infanticide in virgin males. These data indicate that Calcr+ MPOA neurons are required for both maternal and allomaternal nurturing behaviors and that upregulation of amylin-Calcr signaling in the MPOA at least partially mediates risk-taking maternal care, possibly via modified connectomics of Calcr+ neurons postpartum.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Área Pré-Óptica
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Assunção de Riscos
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Comportamento Animal
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Transdução de Sinais
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Receptores da Calcitonina
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Comportamento Materno
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article