Oxytocin signaling in the medial amygdala is required for sex discrimination of social cues
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, United States
Figures
Figure 1 with 1 supplement
OXT signaling is required for male mice to discriminate female and male conspecifics.
(A) A 3-chamber-social-investigation paradigm testing social preference. Representative traces of a male subject mouse habituating in the 3-chamber paradigm with empty enclosure cups (Upper), and …
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Conspecific odor cue preference of female mice in different estrous stages.
Female mice in different estrous stages did not show any preference in investigating female cues versus male cues (t test) (A), and did not differ in odor preference scores (t test) (B) and total …
Figure 2 with 2 supplements
OXT signaling in aromatase-expressing neurons is required for the discrimination of male and female conspecifics.
(A) Male mice lacking AVP signaling showed normal preference for female conspecific cues. Left: time spent investigating each odor cue. Upper right: odor preference score; Bottom right: total time …
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
Odor preference of male mice with impaired AVP signaling.
(A) Schematic illustration of the BAC transgenic Avp-IRES-Cre line. (B) Co-labeling of AVP and Cre Immunostaining in Avp-IRES-Cre mouse. (C) Avp-Cre crossed to the ROSA26-eGFP-DTA line leads to …
Figure 2—figure supplement 2
Construction of the Cyp19a1-Cre transgenic mouse line.
(A) Verification of the Cre expression pattern of a Trh-Cre line by injecting a reporter AAV to the MeA. (B) Schematic illustration of the generation of a Cyp19a1-Cre line. The Cre coding sequence …
Figure 3
Aromatase-expressing neurons in the MeApd are the cellular substrate mediating OT signaling in sexual discrimination.
(A) Virus-mediated ablation of OXTR in the MeA (Upper) and BNST (Bottom) of Oxtrflox/flox mice. Illustrations of the MeAp and BNST were adapted from the Paxinos and Franklin mouse brain atlas. The …
Figure 4
OXT signaling is critical for dimorphic neuronal responses of the MeA to conspecific cues.
(A) Schematic showing core elements of the vomeronasal pathway (yellow) and the targeting of multichannel probes to the MeA. (B) Single voltage trace showing an increase in the activity of a …
Figure 5 with 1 supplement
Acute pharmacological inhibition of OXTR leads to impaired social interaction preference and altered neuronal response profile in the MeA.
(A–C) Comparison of times spent in each interaction zone (t test), social preference scores (paired t test) and distance traveled (paired t test) of the subjects (Oxtrflox/flox) before and after IP …
Figure 5—figure supplement 1
Mapping of OXT outputs from the PVN and the SON.
(A) Summarized distribution and density of OXT fibers derived from the PVN or SON in different brain areas. OXT fibers are mapped by injecting a Cre-dependent AAV-ChR2-YFP to either the PVN or the …
Figure 6 with 1 supplement
Acute chemogenetic inhibition of OXT signaling is sufficient to disturb the discrimination of female and male conspecifics.
(A–C) Schematic of hM4Di mediated inhibition of OXT-expressing neurons. Illustration of the PVN (A) and SON (C) in coronal sections are adapted from the Paxinos and Franklin mouse brain atlas. The …
Figure 6—figure supplement 1
DREADD AAV virus-mediated manipulation of OT neurons.
Co-labeling of OXT immunostaining with mCherry in Oxt-iCre mouse injected with the excitatory DREADD (AAV8-hSyn-DIO-hM3Dq-mCherry) and the inhibitory DREADD (AAV8-hSyn-DIO-hM4Di-mCherry) AAV viruses.
Figure 7 with 1 supplement
Acute chemogenetic activation of OXT signaling alters social interaction preference and neuronal response profile in the MeA.
(A) Structure of combined pharmacology and electrophysiology experiments. Sensory responses were determined prior to drug application (~50 min), followed by a 10 min baseline period. Drugs were …
Figure 7—figure supplement 1
Acute chemogenetic activation of OXT signaling alters social interaction preference.
(A) Representative traces of a subject mouse in a social interaction paradigm assessing the preference of the subject to investigate a pair of anesthetized female and male stimuli. The path traveled …
Additional files
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Transparent reporting form
- https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.31373.016
