title: The neurobiology of parenting: A neural circuit perspective.
abstract: Social interactions are essential for animals to reproduce, defend their territory, and raise their young. The conserved nature of social behaviors across animal species suggests that the neural pathways underlying the motivation for, and the execution of, specific social responses are also maintained. Modern tools of neuroscience have offered new opportunities for dissecting the molecular and neural mechanisms controlling specific social responses. We will review here recent insights into the neural circuits underlying a particularly fascinating and important form of social interaction, that of parental care. We will discuss how these findings open new avenues to deconstruct infant-directed behavioral control in males and females, and to help understand the neural basis of parenting in a variety of animal species, including humans. Please also see the video abstract here.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.|Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, London, UK.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kohl
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Anita E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Autry
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dulac
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008322:Mammals / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D009042:Motivation; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010332:Paternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology
keywords: MPOA; hormones; hypothalamus; infanticide; infants; neural circuits; neuropeptides; parenting; social behavior