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Neural circuitry of oxytocin signaling for alloparenting behavior

Award Number: R01HD088411
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2017
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2027

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Neural circuitry of oxytocin signaling for alloparenting behavior - Project Summary 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. Although there is a high rate of child maltreatment and neglect, training programs and interventions that teach parents to detect and respond to social signals have had some success. These therapies would benefit from understanding how observing, learning, and teaching behaviors required for childcare involve various neural circuits and processes, including how the central oxytocin system might be involved in 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 and learned alloparenting 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 behavioral interactions between experienced mother mice (‘dams’) and virgin females put in the homecage with dam and pups. The central hypothesis is that dams change their behavior in the presence of the virgin, recruiting them to be co-carers via behaviors that increase virgin oxytocin signaling to promote alloparenting. We will use in vivo recordings and optogenetics in behaving animals, combined with studies of neural circuits providing sensory input to hypothalamic oxytocin neurons. In Aim 1 we monitor and manipulate oxytocin signaling as virgins watch movies of dams being maternal. In Aim 2, we study how visual input and other sensory signals are routed to oxytocin neurons. Finally in Aim 3 we ask if oxytocin neurons in dams are important for changes in dam behavior to help transmit maternal behaviors or train virgins to be alloparents. In summary, here we will use behavioral experiments combined with optogenetics and in vivo recordings to ask how oxytocin is released 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?


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $652,693 )
2025	2025	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	9	4/4/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$652,693
														Subtotal = $652,693

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $646,166 )
2024	2024	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	8	4/19/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$587,424
2024	2024	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	8	6/10/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$58,742
														Subtotal = $646,166

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $648,605 )
2023	2023	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	7	3/22/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$648,605
2023	2022	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	002	6	6/23/2023	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$30,068
2023	2021	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	5	6/23/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$30,068
														Subtotal = $648,605

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $678,676 )
2022	2022	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	6	2/28/2022	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$678,676
														Subtotal = $678,676

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $353,748 )
2021	2021	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	5	3/26/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$353,748
														Subtotal = $353,748

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $373,419 )
2020	2020	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	4	3/25/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$373,419
														Subtotal = $373,419

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $373,419 )
2019	2019	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	3	6/10/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$373,419
														Subtotal = $373,419

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $425,530 )
2018	2018	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	002	2	4/27/2018	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$52,111
2018	2018	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	2	3/9/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$336,077
2018	2018	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	2	4/26/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$37,342
														Subtotal = $425,530

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $403,041 )
2017	2017	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	1	3/29/2017	NEW	$403,041
														Subtotal = $403,041

Grand Total All Awards = $4,555,297

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Neural circuitry of oxytocin signaling for alloparenting behavior

Award Number: R01HD088411

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2017

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2027

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