Maternal behaviors, which are crucial for the survival of mammalian infants, require the coordinated operation of multiple brain regions to process infant cues, make decisions, and execute motor plans. Although these processes likely demand higher cognitive functions, the prefrontal areas that regulate limbic parental programs remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) excitatory projection neurons promote alloparental caregiving behaviors in female mice. By chronic microendoscopy, we observed robust yet adaptable representations of pup-directed anticipatory and motor-related activities within the OFC. Some of these plastic responses were significantly overlapped with those related to nonsocial reward signals. The inactivation of OFC output reduced the phasic activities of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons specifically tied to pup retrieval and impaired the modulation of DA release to the ventral striatum during the acquisition of alloparental behaviors. These findings suggest that the OFC transiently boosts DA activity during the acquisition phase, thereby facilitating the manifestation of alloparental behaviors.
See detail in Orbitofrontal Cortex Influences Dopamine Dynamics Associated with Alloparental Behavioral Acquisition in Female Mice. Tasaka et al. (2023), bioRxiv
Gen-Ichi Tasaka, Mitsue Hagihara, Satsuki Irie, Haruna Kobayashi, Kengo Inada, Kenta Kobayashi, Shigeki Kato, Kazuto Kobayashi, Kazunari Miyamichi (2025) Orbitofrontal cortex influences dopamine dynamics associated with alloparental behavioral acquisition in female mice., Science advances, Volume 11, Number 27, pp. eadr4620
Published in July 2, 2025 (Electronic publication in July 2, 2025, midnight )
(Abstract) Maternal behaviors, which are crucial for the survival of mammalian infants, require the coordinated operation of multiple brain regions to process infant cues, make decisions, and execute motor plans. Although these processes likely demand higher cognitive functions, the prefrontal areas that regulate limbic parental programs remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) excitatory projection neurons promote alloparental caregiving behaviors in female mice. By chronic microendoscopy, we observed robust yet adaptable representations of pup-directed anticipatory and motor-related activities within the OFC. Some of these plastic responses were significantly overlapped with those related to nonsocial reward signals. The inactivation of OFC output reduced the phasic activities of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons specifically tied to pup retrieval and impaired the modulation of DA release to the ventral striatum during the acquisition of alloparental behaviors. These findings suggest that the OFC transiently boosts DA activity during the acquisition phase, thereby facilitating the manifestation of alloparental behaviors.(MeSH Terms)
Tasaka, Gen-ichi, Hagihara, Mitsue, Irie, Satsuki, Kobayashi, Haruna, Inada, Kengo, Kobayashi, Kenta, Kato, Shigeki, Kobayashi, Kazuto, Miyamichi, Kazunari (2025/01/01), Orbitofrontal Cortex Influences Dopamine Dynamics Associated with Alloparental Behavioral Acquisition in Female Mice, bioRxiv, 2023.02.03.527077
Published in 2025/01/01
(Abstract) None