Hormone-mediated neural remodeling orchestrates parenting onset during pregnancy
More about Open Access at the CrickAuthors list
Rachida Ammari Francesco Monaca Mingran Cao Estelle Nassar Patty Wai Nicholas A Del Grosso Matthew Lee Neven Borak Deborah Schneider-Luftman Jonny KohlAbstract
During pregnancy, physiological adaptations prepare the female body for the challenges of motherhood. Becoming a parent also requires behavioral adaptations. Such adaptations can occur as early as during pregnancy, but how pregnancy hormones remodel parenting circuits to instruct preparatory behavioral changes remains unknown. We found that action of estradiol and progesterone on galanin (Gal)-expressing neurons in the mouse medial preoptic area (MPOA) is critical for pregnancy-induced parental behavior. Whereas estradiol silences MPOAGal neurons and paradoxically increases their excitability, progesterone permanently rewires this circuit node by promoting dendritic spine formation and recruitment of excitatory synaptic inputs. This MPOAGal-specific neural remodeling sparsens population activity in vivo and results in persistently stronger, more selective responses to pup stimuli. Pregnancy hormones thus remodel parenting circuits in anticipation of future behavioral need.
Journal details
Journal
Science
Volume
382
Issue number
6666
Pages
76-81
Available online
Publication date
Full text links
Publisher website (DOI)
10.1126/science.adi0576
Europe PubMed Central
37797007
Pubmed
37797007
Data and code
Keywords
Related topics
Type of publication
