黑料吃瓜资源

The image of a mouse mom fetching her pup safely home calls to mind a human mother鈥檚 rapid response when their toddler wanders toward danger. Neuroscientists at 黑料吃瓜资源 (CSHL) now report this resemblance applies in more ways than one.

In a first-of-its-kind study, postdoctoral fellow and CSHL Associate Professor Stephen Shea were able to time this maternal caring action precisely to the firing of cells in a tiny brain region called the locus coeruleus, or LC, which is a blue cluster of cells found in the brainstem of all vertebrates. Dvorkin says:

鈥淚n nature, the pup when it grows, it starts to roll out of the nest, and the mother has to run and bring it back, otherwise it will either die from hypothermia or somebody will just eat it like a snack.鈥�

Shea鈥檚 lab is a leader in studying maternal caring behaviors by observing female mice in settings that let them behave as they do in nature, as opposed to artificial, 鈥渃ontrived鈥� experiments. 鈥淲e study pup retrieval because it鈥檚 very reliable and it鈥檚 done the same way every time,鈥� says Shea.

The team wanted to look at LC鈥檚 role in pup-retrieval because, 鈥渁lthough LC is a very small fraction of the brain, it鈥檚 the brain鈥檚 sole source of a chemical called noradrenaline (NA), and it projects it throughout the whole brain,鈥� Shea says.

NA is commonly known as the body鈥檚 fight-or-flight chemical. In the brain, LC is known to affect key functions like sleep and wakefulness, decision-making and memory, and emotional experiences like stress and arousal.

鈥淏ut,鈥� says Shea, 鈥渨hat we didn鈥檛 know is what activity it has during social behavior.鈥�

Their findings are striking. The recordings show LC neurons spike in activity at the exact moment a mom touches a pup to retrieve it. 鈥淭his very precise burst activates all of LC at one time. It sends this information across the brain and we think helps coordinate pup retrieval,鈥� Dvorkin says.

Scientists know LC is important in human disorders that impair social functioning, including depression, anxiety, and autism. Studying the structure at this basic level could help reveal causes of such disorders and lead to potential new treatments.

Written by: Joyce Gramza, Science Writer | [email protected] | 516-367-8455

Funding

National Institute of Mental Health, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation

Citation

Dvorkin, R., et al., 鈥淧recise and pervasive phasic bursting in locus coeruleus during maternal behavior in mice鈥�, Journal of Neuroscience, March 10, 2022. DOI: