The same neural pathways promote maternal and paternal behaviors in voles

Like female voles, connections between oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamus and dopaminergic neurons in reward areas stimulate parental behaviors in male voles, according to new research published in JNeurosci.

Motherhood receives the most attention in the research world, but in 5% of mammals – including humans – fathers also provide care. The “love hormone” oxytocin plays a role in paternal care, but the exact neural pathways underlying the behavior were not known.

He et al. measured the neuronal activity of sires of voles as they interacted with their offspring. Oxytocin neurons connecting the hypothalamus to a reward zone were triggered when fathers were tending to their offspring. Stimulating oxytocin neurons increased paternal behaviors, while inhibiting them reduced paternal behaviors. Inhibition of the pathway resulted in decreased release of dopamine to the reward zone when fathers cared for their puppies. These pathways are the same as those involved in promoting maternal behavior in females. Understanding the pathways to paternal care could lead to interventions for paternal postpartum depression or paternal violence.

###

Article Title: Paraventricular Nucleus Oxytocin Subsystems Promote Active Paternal Behaviors in Mandarin Voles

JNeurosci, the first journal of the Society for Neuroscience, was launched in 1981 as a means of communicating the highest quality neuroscience research results to a growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have immediate and lasting scientific impact, while meeting the changing publishing needs of authors, representing the breadth of the field and the diversity of authors.

The Society for Neuroscience is the world’s largest organization of scientists and physicians dedicated to understanding the brain and nervous system. The non-profit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and more than 130 chapters around the world.