A circuit from the locus coeruleus to the anterior cingulate cortex modulates offspring interactions in mice

Abstract

Social sensitivity to other individuals in distress is crucial for survival. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a structure involved in making behavioral choices and is influenced by observed pain or distress. Nevertheless, our understanding of the neural circuitry underlying this sensitivity is incomplete. Here, we reveal unexpected sex-dependent activation of ACC when parental mice respond to distressed pups by returning them to the nest ('pup retrieval'). We observe sex differences in the interactions between excitatory and inhibitory ACC neurons during parental care, and inactivation of ACC excitatory neurons increased pup neglect. Locus coeruleus (LC) releases noradrenaline in ACC during pup retrieval, and inactivation of the LC-ACC pathway disrupts parental care. We conclude that ACC maintains sex-dependent sensitivity to pup distress under LC modulation. We propose that ACC's involvement in parenting presents an opportunity to identify neural circuits that support sensitivity to the emotional distress of others.

Dopamine Dynamics Underlying Alloparental Behavioral Acquisition Facilitated by Top-down Orbitofrontal Inputs in Female Mice

“…First, despite our focus on the OFC due to its neural activation by infant-related sensory inputs in both humans and mice ( 4, 21, 22 ), we did not examine the regional specificity of the OFC in regulating maternal behavioral acquisition. Other areas of the frontal cortex, such as the mPFC ( 15 ) and the anterior cingulate cortex ( 60 ), may have significant roles alongside the OFC. Second, although we found OFC Rbp4 neurons whose activities tiled all behavioral categories of pup retrieval, it remains unclear whether these distinct populations are associated with subtypes of neurons based on their axonal projection or gene expression profiles ( 42, 61 ).…”