# Neural Circuitry and Plasticity for Maternal Behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2021 · $353,748

## Abstract

Maternal care of offspring requires rapid neurobehavioral changes, including plasticity within circuits specialized
for processing infant cues such as crying. Neuroendocrine signals are important for neuroplasticity, including
release of the peptide hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is released from the hypothalamus and is important for
childbirth and lactation. Oxytocin also acts in the brain where it is believed to increase the salience of social
information, enhancing pair bonding and maternal behavior. Clinical studies suggest that oxytocin is a promising
therapeutic agent, with patients sometimes engaging more successfully in social interactions. There is a high
rate of child maltreatment and neglect, but training programs and interventions that teach parents to detect and
respond to social signals have had some success. These therapies would benefit from understanding the
interactions between infant social cues, oxytocin modulation, and neuroplasticity relevant for maternal behaviors.
 In this proposal, we will study the neural circuitry, plasticity, and behavioral effects of oxytocin in the
context of maternal behavior in mice. We study neurobehavioral responses to infant ultrasonic vocalizations by
maternal caregivers, which requires experience with pups and is facilitated by oxytocin. We will study the
sequence of auditory-based maternal behaviors first expressed by pup-naïve females co-housed with mothers
and pups. The central hypothesis is that social contact with dam or pups releases oxytocin, interacting with pup
calls to induce plasticity in auditory cortex. We will use in vivo recording and imaging, combined with behavior
and optogenetics to examine how cortex is modified by oxytocin and pup call sounds, building on our past work
on cortical plasticity and modulation. In Aim 1 we measure activity in auditory cortex during co-housing, relating
retrieval behavior to cortical plasticity. In Aim 2, we examine the how oxytocin modulates excitatory and inhibitory
cells and synapses for processing auditory social signals. Finally in Aim 3 we ask how oxytocin is appropriately
released by infant cues, to initiate these auditory cortical changes and shape maternal behavior in newly-
maternal mice.
 In summary, here we will use behavioral experiments combined with optogenetics and in vivo recordings
to ask how oxytocin is released and affects auditory cortex, to enable maternal recognition of infant distress calls.
These experiments will provide fundamental and urgently-needed data on the neural circuitry and functional
consequences of oxytocin signaling in the mammalian brain, in the context of a deep and long-standing question
in neuroscience: how are specific neural circuits specialized for sensory processing and maternal behavior?

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10133105
- **Project number:** 5R01HD088411-05
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert Crooks Froemke
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $353,748
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10133105

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10133105, Neural Circuitry and Plasticity for Maternal Behavior (5R01HD088411-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10133105. Licensed CC0.

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