title: Pairmate-dependent pup retrieval as parental behavior in male mice.
abstract: Appropriate parental care by fathers can greatly facilitate healthy human family life. However, much less is known about paternal behavior in animals compared to those regarding maternal behavior. Previously, we reported that male ICR strain laboratory mice, although not spontaneously parental, can be induced to display maternal-like parental care (pup retrieval) when separated from their pups by signals from the pairmate dam (Liu et al., 2013). This parental behavior by the ICR sires, which are not genetically biparental, is novel and has been designated as pairmate-dependent paternal behavior. However, the factors critical for this paternal behavior are unclear. Here, we report that the pairmate-dependent paternal retrieval behavior is observed especially in the ICR strain and not in C57BL/6 or BALB/c mice. An ICR sire displays retrieval behavior only toward his biological pups. A sire co-housed with an unrelated non-pairing dam in a new environment, under which 38-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations are not detected, does not show parenting behavior. It is important for sires to establish their own home territory (cage) by continuous housing and testing to display retrieval behavior. These results indicated that the ICR sires display distinct paternity, including father-child social interaction, and shed light on parental behavior, although further analyses of paternal care at the neuroendocrinological and neurocircuitry levels are required.
authors: Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan ; Department of Biophysical Genetics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Mingkun
authors: M
authors: Liang
authors: Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan ; Department of Biophysical Genetics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Zhong
authors: Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Hong-Xiang
authors: HX
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Olga
authors: O
authors: Lopatina
authors: Department of Biophysical Genetics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Ryusuke
authors: R
authors: Nakada
authors: Department of Biophysical Genetics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Agnes-Mikiko
authors: AM
authors: Yamauchi
authors: Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University Kanazawa, Japan.
authors: Haruhiro
authors: H
authors: Higashida
keywords: mouse; parental behavior; paternal care; paternity; pup retrieval behavior