title: Distinct preoptic-BST nuclei dissociate paternal and infanticidal behavior in mice.
abstract: Paternal behavior is not innate but arises through social experience. After mating and becoming fathers, male mice change their behavior toward pups from infanticide to paternal care. However, the precise brain areas and circuit mechanisms connecting these social behaviors are largely unknown. Here we demonstrated that the c-Fos expression pattern in the four nuclei of the preoptic-bed nuclei of stria terminalis (BST) region could robustly discriminate five kinds of previous social behavior of male mice (parenting, infanticide, mating, inter-male aggression, solitary control). Specifically, neuronal activation in the central part of the medial preoptic area (cMPOA) and rhomboid nucleus of the BST (BSTrh) retroactively detected paternal and infanticidal motivation with more than 95% accuracy. Moreover, cMPOA lesions switched behavior in fathers from paternal to infanticidal, while BSTrh lesions inhibited infanticide in virgin males. The projections from cMPOA to BSTrh were largely GABAergic. Optogenetic or pharmacogenetic activation of cMPOA attenuated infanticide in virgin males. Taken together, this study identifies the preoptic-BST nuclei underlying social motivations in male mice and reveals unexpected complexity in the circuit connecting these nuclei.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine Toho University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yousuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuneoka
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tokita
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Chihiro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yoshihara
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan Department of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Taiju
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, TN, Italy Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Circuit and Behavioral Physiology RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Arthur J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Circuit and Behavioral Physiology RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Lily M Y
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Odaka
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shinozuka
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Circuit and Behavioral Physiology RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan oyako@brain.riken.jp.
authors.forename: Kumi O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Kuroda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001931:Brain Mapping; D059330:GABAergic Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: Mus musculus; fatherhood; maternal behavior; parental care