Hypothalamic plasticity for alloparenting in male mice
- 1New York University Langone Medical Center
Abstract
Repeated exposure to young can induce caregiving in virgin female mice, a phenomenon known as pup sensitization, but whether virgin males can similarly acquire parental behavior and the neural mechanisms underlying this transition remain unclear. We show that 7 days of continuous pup exposure reliably converts virgin adult male mice to a parental state. This transition requires calcitonin receptor (CalcR)-expressing neurons in the medial preoptic area (MPOA): silencing MPOACalcR neurons disrupts both the acquisition and expression of paternal behavior, whereas optogenetic activation of GABAergic MPOACalcR neurons promotes caregiving in virgin males. Longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging reveals that MPOACalcR neurons develop enhanced pup-selective responses as males transition to a parental state. Moreover, CalcR signaling in the MPOA promotes synaptic potentiation and facilitates the emergence of parental behavior. These results identify an experience-dependent hypothalamic plasticity mechanism that enables parental behavior in non-father males.
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BibTeX
@misc{oneill2026hypothalamic,
title = {{Hypothalamic plasticity for alloparenting in male mice}},
author = {P. T. O'Neill and R. Yan and Y. Wang and Q. Wang and L. Yin and G. Lhamo and D. J. Rhodes and J. Little and H. Cheng and L. Chen and S. Shoham and X. Chen and R. C. Froemke and D. Lin},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.21.760822},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760822v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Hypothalamic plasticity for alloparenting in male mice
AU - P. T. O'Neill
AU - R. Yan
AU - Y. Wang
AU - Q. Wang
AU - L. Yin
AU - G. Lhamo
AU - D. J. Rhodes
AU - J. Little
AU - H. Cheng
AU - L. Chen
AU - S. Shoham
AU - X. Chen
AU - R. C. Froemke
AU - D. Lin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.21.760822
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760822v1
AB - Repeated exposure to young can induce caregiving in virgin female mice, a phenomenon known as pup sensitization, but whether virgin males can similarly acquire parental behavior and the neural mechanisms underlying this transition remain unclear. We show that 7 days of continuous pup exposure reliably converts virgin adult male mice to a parental state. This transition requires calcitonin receptor (CalcR)-expressing neurons in the medial preoptic area (MPOA): silencing MPOACalcR neurons disrupts both the acquisition and expression of paternal behavior, whereas optogenetic activation of GABAergic MPOACalcR neurons promotes caregiving in virgin males. Longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging reveals that MPOACalcR neurons develop enhanced pup-selective responses as males transition to a parental state. Moreover, CalcR signaling in the MPOA promotes synaptic potentiation and facilitates the emergence of parental behavior. These results identify an experience-dependent hypothalamic plasticity mechanism that enables parental behavior in non-father males.
ER -