Involvement of Serotonergic Projections from the Dorsal Raphe to the Medial Preoptic Area in the Regulation of the Pup-Directed Paternal Response of Male Mandarin Voles

Author:

Lv Zijian1,Li Lu1,Li Yin1,Zhang Lizi1,Guo Xing1,Huang Caihong1,Hou Wenjuan1,Qu Yishan1,Liu Limin1,Li Yitong1,He Zhixiong1,Tai Fadao1

Affiliation:

1. Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China

Abstract

Male mammals display different paternal responses to pups, either attacking or killing the young offspring, or contrastingly, caring for them. The neural circuit mechanism underlying the between-individual variation in the pup-directed responsiveness of male mammals remains unclear. Monogamous mandarin voles were used to complete the present study. The male individuals were identified as paternal and infanticidal voles, according their behavioral responses to pups. It was found that the serotonin release in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), as well as the serotonergic neuron activity, significantly increased upon licking the pups, but showed no changes after attacking the pups, as revealed by the in vivo fiber photometry of the fluorescence signal from the 5-HT 1.0 sensor and the calcium imaging indicator, respectively. It was verified that the 5-HTergic neural projections to the MPOA originated mainly from the ventral part of the dorsal raphe (vDR). Furthermore, the chemogenetic inhibition of serotonergic projections from the vDR to the MPOA decreased the paternal behaviors and shortened the latency to attack the pups. In contrast, the activation of serotonergic neurons via optogenetics extended the licking duration and inhibited infanticide. Collectively, these results elucidate that the serotonergic projections from the vDR to the MPOA, a previously unrecognized pathway, regulate the paternal responses of virgin male mandarin voles to pups.

Funder

STI2030-Majior Projects

National Natural Science Foundation of China

Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China

China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

Fundamental Research Funds for Central University

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Inorganic Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Computer Science Applications,Spectroscopy,Molecular Biology,General Medicine,Catalysis

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