# Investigate the Neural Circuits of Infant-Directed Behaviors

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $709,362

## Abstract

SUMMARY STATEMENT
Parental care is an innate social behavior essential for species survival. Hence, a hardwired circuit
has evolved to support its expression. However, naïve animals often show hostile behaviors
toward infants, including infanticide. These are thought to be selected to free up resources for the
perpetrator's own future offspring. Though infanticide was once considered pathological, its
prevalence—e.g., in nearly 100% of wild mice—suggests that it is a part of animals' natural
behavior repertory and could be supported by a dedicated neural circuit. We reason that hostile
behaviors toward the young under pathological conditions could be caused by deficits in both
parental and infanticidal circuits. Thus, a better understanding of both circuits is needed to
ultimately prevent child abuse. Our earlier study pinpointed estrogen receptor alpha (Esr1)-
expressing cells in the medial preoptic area (MPOAEsr1) as an essential population for maternal
care. More recently, we demonstrated Esr1 cells in the principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of
stria terminalis (BNSTprEsr1) as a critical population driving infanticide in female mice. MPOAEsr1
and BNSTprEsr1 cells antagonize each other and change excitability in opposite directions during
motherhood to support the emergence of maternal behaviors. Here, building on these findings,
we will continue our efforts to elucidate the neural circuits underlying infant-directed hostile and
caring behaviors using BNSTprEsr1 and MPOAEsr1 cells as two anchoring points. In Aim 1, we will
investigate the role of BNSTprEsr1 cells in infanticide in male mice. This is an important question
given that BNSTpr is sexually dimorphic anatomically and molecularly. We will also examine the
relationship between male BNSTprEsr1 cells activated during infant-directed behaviors and those
activated during adult-directed social behaviors using two-photon calcium imaging. In Aim 2, we
will further dissect the infanticide circuit downstream of BNSTprEsr1 cells using pathway-specific
manipulation tools. In Aim 3, we will investigate the role of medial amygdala (MeA), an upstream
region of both MPOA and BNSTpr, in young-directed behaviors. We hypothesize that MeA cells
modulate positive and negative infant-directed behaviors through their projections to the BNSTpr
and MPOA, respectively. Overall, this study promises to provide new information about the neural
underpinning of infant-directed behaviors. Such knowledge is an important step toward new
strategies to prevent child abuse in humans that can profoundly impair child health and
development.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10943349
- **Project number:** 1R01HD116127-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Dayu Lin
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $709,362
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-05 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10943349

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10943349, Investigate the Neural Circuits of Infant-Directed Behaviors (1R01HD116127-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10943349. Licensed CC0.

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