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Oxytocin and Parental Behaviors

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Behavioral Pharmacology of Neuropeptides: Oxytocin

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 35))

Abstract

The oxytocin/vasopressin ancestor molecule has been regulating reproductive and social behaviors for more than 500 million years. In all mammals, oxytocin is the hormone indispensable for milk-ejection during nursing (maternal milk provision to offspring), a process that is crucial for successful mammalian parental care. In laboratory mice, a remarkable transcriptional activation occurs during parental behavior within the anterior commissural nucleus (AC), the largest magnocellular oxytocin cell population within the medial preoptic area (although the transcriptional activation was limited to non-oxytocinergic neurons in the AC). Furthermore, there are numerous recent reports on oxytocin’s involvement in positive social behaviors in animals and humans. Given all those, the essential involvement of oxytocin in maternal/parental behaviors may seem obvious, but basic researchers are still struggling to pin down the exact role oxytocin plays in the regulation of parental behaviors. A major aim of this review is to more clearly define this role. The best conclusion at this moment is that OT can facilitate the onset of parental behavior, or parental behavior under stressful conditions.

In this chapter, we will first review the basics of rodent parental behavior. Next, the neuroanatomy of oxytocin systems with respect to parental behavior in laboratory mice will be introduced. Then, the research history on the functional relationship between oxytocin and parental behavior, along with advancements in various techniques, will be reviewed. Finally, some technical considerations in conducting behavioral experiments on parental behavior in rodents will be addressed, with the aim of shedding light on certain pitfalls that should be avoided, so that the progress of research in this field will be facilitated. In this age of populism, researchers should strive to do even more scholarly works with further attention to methodological details.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful for expert peer reviewers for their insightful suggestions. We would appreciate if the readers kindly let us know of any corrections or comments on this chapter at: oyako@brain.riken.jp.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Affiliative Social Behavior, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan

    Chihiro Yoshihara & Kumi O. Kuroda

  2. Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Michael Numan

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  1. Chihiro Yoshihara
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  2. Michael Numan
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  3. Kumi O. Kuroda
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Correspondence to Michael Numan or Kumi O. Kuroda .

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Rene Hurlemann

  2. Schaller Research Group on Neuropeptides German Cancer Research Center, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, BW, Germany

    Valery Grinevich

  3. Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, BW, Germany

    Valery Grinevich

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Yoshihara, C., Numan, M., Kuroda, K.O. (2017). Oxytocin and Parental Behaviors. In: Hurlemann, R., Grinevich, V. (eds) Behavioral Pharmacology of Neuropeptides: Oxytocin. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 35. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2017_11

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