# Oxytocin Modulation of Neural Circuit Function and Behavior

> **NIH NIH U19** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $64,412

## Abstract

Project Summary
Oxytocin is a peptide hormone synthesized and released from the hypothalamus for reproduction, maternal care,
and social behavior, as well as various ‘non-social’ aspects of internal state and physiological processes.
Although sometimes referred to as a ‘trust’ hormone, a growing body of evidence across species and brain areas
indicates that oxytocin can increase social salience, i.e., amplifying or enabling selective attention towards
certain social stimuli, such as the sound of a crying infant or the presence of a threatening or high-status
individual. Oxytocin is believed to have therapeutic potential, and delivery of oxytocin into the central nervous
system promises to improve social deficits in various mental disorders, such as autism. Despite the enthusiasm
for oxytocin, contradictory results in the efficacy of oxytocin in improving human social behaviors have been
reported. Such inconsistency in literature is likely due to our poor understanding of complexity of oxytocin action,
which likely varies with behavioral state, experience and brain structures. We believe that a better understanding
of the endogenous action of oxytocin is the key to unleash the therapeutic potential of this highly evolutionary
conserved neuropeptide. Advancing our understanding requires cross-level and comparative inter-disciplinary
studies by an group of investigators with overlapping interests and the technical capability to analyze oxytocin
signaling across molecular, physiological, systems behavioral and levels. This includes multi-animal interactions,
as many mental disorders are impactful on social behavior, over the lifespan and throughout the brain.
 To these ends, this proposed U19 at NYU Grossman School of Medicine on “Oxytocin Modulation of
Neural Circuit Function and Behavior” consists of four inter-related Projects and five Core facilities, designated
by their responsibilities as Administrative, Behavior, Computational Modeling, Data Science, and Molecular Tools
Cores. The overarching goal of the four Projects and Cores is to achieve a better understanding of the oxytocin
modulation in socio-spatial behaviors through the development of new tools and theories, which we define as
social interactions within a specific context or behavioral environment. Our team will join forces to tackle the
oxytocin system from both the source (oxytocin neurons) and the receiving ends (oxytocin receptor-expressing
neurons). For Overall Aim 1, Projects 1 and 2 ask how different populations of oxytocin neurons promote stable
adult social hierarchy, extending to collective parenting to ensure the survival of offspring as one key advantage
of a stable social ecosystem. For Overall Aim 2, Project 3 dives into detailed cellular, synaptic and microcircuit
mechanisms that mediate the oxytocin actions. In Overall Aim 3, Project 4 combines knowledge and techniques
developed from Projects 1, 2, and 3 to develop methods for specific circuit perturbations to affect s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11054720
- **Project number:** 3U19NS107616-07S1
- **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:** $64,412
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11054720

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11054720, Oxytocin Modulation of Neural Circuit Function and Behavior (3U19NS107616-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11054720. Licensed CC0.

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