# Functional Dissection of Neural Circuitry Underlying Parenting Behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $516,413

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Impairments in social functioning is a prominent, debilitating symptom in many neuropsychiatric disorders, such
as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder. Currently the neural underpinnings
of these social deficits are poorly understood, and effective therapeutic approaches are still lacking. Elucidation
of the neural circuit mechanisms for social behaviors will improve our understanding of the disease mechanisms
of neuropsychiatric disorders, facilitating the development of potent treatments. Parenting behavior is a prevalent
and evolutionarily ancient social behavior that critically affects the survival and well-being of the offspring in a
wide range of animal species from invertebrates to humans, and is characterized by remarkable differences
between different sexes and reproductive states. Although parenting behavior is thought to be controlled by
evolutionarily conserved neural circuits, the nature and functions of these circuits remain largely undefined.
Furthermore, the neural mechanisms regulating the differential display of parenting behavior in different sexes
and physiological states are poorly understood. Unraveling these questions will provide key insights into the
neural circuit mechanisms underlying parenting behavior and the basic principles governing the regulation of
sexually dimorphic behaviors. Such insights will improve our understanding on the regulation of human social
behaviors in both health and disease. Recently, we have uncovered novel functional roles for GABAergic
neurons in the mouse medial amygdala (MeA) in controlling parenting behavior in females and infanticidal and
parenting behaviors in males. We have also comprehensively identified molecularly heterogeneous GABAergic
subpopulations in both male and female MeA. These findings open up a unique opportunity for an in-depth
dissection of the functional organization of a brain area newly identified to critically control parenting and
infanticidal behaviors. Using a combination of cutting-edge functional manipulation and imaging techniques, we
aim to develop a novel mechanistic model for how differential activations of distinct GABAergic subpopulations
in the MeA regulate opposing pup-directed behaviors. We will address a series of important questions central to
this model: (1) Are parenting and infanticidal behaviors controlled by different or the same MeA GABAergic
subpopulations (Aim 1)? (2) What are the downstream neural circuits of MeA GABAergic neurons that mediate
parenting and infanticidal behaviors (Aim 2)? (3) How are parenting and infanticidal behaviors encoded by neural
activity patterns in MeA GABAergic subpopulations and efferent projections (Aim 3)? To answer these questions,
we will perform precise, functional manipulations of genetically and projection-defined MeA GABAergic
subpopulations and their axonal projections, and examine the neural activity dynamics of MeA GABAergic
subpopulations and...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9993590
- **Project number:** 5R01NS113124-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Weizhe Hong
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $516,413
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-15 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9993590

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9993590, Functional Dissection of Neural Circuitry Underlying Parenting Behavior (5R01NS113124-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9993590. Licensed CC0.

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