RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
Front Neural Circuits. 2024 Jan 16;17:1340497. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2023.1340497. eCollection 2023.
Parental care plays a crucial role in the physical and mental well-being of mammalian offspring. Although sexually naïve male mice, as well as certain strains of female mice, display aggression toward pups, they exhibit heightened parental caregiving behaviors as they approach the time of anticipating their offspring. In this Mini Review, I provide a concise overview of the current understanding of distinct limbic neural types and their circuits governing both aggressive and caregiving behaviors toward infant mice. Subsequently, I delve into recent advancements in the understanding of the molecular, cellular, and neural circuit mechanisms that regulate behavioral plasticity during the transition to parenthood, with a specific focus on the sex steroid hormone estrogen and neural hormone oxytocin. Additionally, I explore potential sex-related differences and highlight some critical unanswered questions that warrant further investigation.
亲代抚育在哺乳动物后代的身心健康中起着至关重要的作用。尽管性不成熟的雄性小鼠以及某些雌性小鼠品系会对幼崽表现出攻击性，但当它们接近预期幼崽出生的时间时，它们会表现出更高水平的亲代抚育行为。在这篇迷你综述中，我简要概述了目前对控制雄性小鼠对幼崽的攻击性和抚育行为的不同边缘神经类型及其回路的理解。随后，我深入探讨了最近在理解调节向亲代身份转变过程中行为可塑性的分子、细胞和神经回路机制方面的进展，特别关注了性类固醇激素雌激素和神经激素催产素。此外，我还探讨了潜在的性别相关差异，并强调了一些需要进一步研究的关键未解决问题。
