# U19 Supplement 2023-Froemke

> **NIH NIH U19** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $49,579

## Abstract

Project Summary (Project 1)
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide important for social behavior, such as maternal care, pair bonding, and cooperation
by partners and groups. Direct axonal oxytocin release into various forebrain targets is critical for social behavior,
but it remains unclear if the oxytocin system is heterogeneous and reflects important functional differences for
certain cell subsets, relates to inter-animal differences in parental abilities, and if experience-dependent plasticity
can adapt the oxytocin system to social and parental environments. Oxytocin administration might also be
clinically promising for autism spectrum disorders, social anxiety, and post-partum conditions. However, it is
imperative to understand what aspects of oxytocin release relate to parenting, cooperating, and communal living,
and whether there are differences in oxytocin modulation that depend on sex, experience, or social context.
 Here we will address this critical knowledge gap. Recently, with the U19 Behavior Core we built a system
for neural recordings and behavioral monitoring, continuously collecting data over days to months on home cage
life as mice parent or co-parent together. This was combined with photo-tagged recordings in vivo of identified
oxytocin neurons in maternal mice. Our documentary-style video recordings revealed previously-undescribed
behavioral interactions by which experienced mothers seemed to encourage or perhaps ‘teach’ co-housed pup-
naïve virgin females to engage in maternal care. These behaviors activated photo-tagged oxytocin cells in virgin
PVN, providing a robust foundation for the current Project, in which our team aims to understand what aspects
of maternal care- by single mothers, pairs, and small groups- activate oxytocin neurons, require oxytocin
signaling, and might produce or depend on plasticity of this system upon transition to parenting. The central
hypothesis is that the oxytocin system is attuned to social variables related to pup care and the behavior of other
potential co-parents, to regulate the behavior of single and co-parents to assure pup survival. We further
hypothesize that this depends on adult dominance interactions (studied with Project 2 and analyzed with the
Computational Modeling Core) that set up social structures for effective co-parenting. We will monitor oxytocin
neurons with in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, photometry, and perform behavioral and opto-/chemo-genetic
studies in adult mice to determine when and how oxytocin modulates neural circuits for social information
processing and reliable maternal behavior, with mechanisms of modulation informed by Project 3 and relevant
brain areas for social information processing identified in Projects 2 and 4. In Aim 1 we study initial plasticity of
oxytocin cells when animals become single mothers, relating oxytocin cell firing to variables such nest building
or pup temperature. In Aim 2, we ask if oxytocin neurons help experienced dams teach co-hou...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10917627
- **Project number:** 3U19NS107616-06S1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD W TSIEN
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $49,579
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10917627

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10917627, U19 Supplement 2023-Froemke (3U19NS107616-06S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10917627. Licensed CC0.

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