报告题目: Neural control of Innate behaviors and Motivation
报  告  人：许晓鸿 教授
报告时间：2018年6月5日 下午3:00
报到地点：心理学部213厅
报告人简介：

许晓鸿博士，中科院神经科学研究所担任研究员，青年专家，“神经科学国家重点实验室”的成员、“中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心”的年轻骨干。她的主要兴趣是研究本能行为的神经基础。先后获得“青年973”、“面上项目”、“中科院B类先导项目”等基金支持。目前已经在 Cell 、Nature Communications、PNAS 、Neuroscience 等期刊发表高质量论文多篇。

Abstract

The medial preoptic area (mPOA) differs between males and females in nearly all species examined to date, including humans. Using fiber photometry recordings of Ca2+ transients in freely behaving mice, we show ramping activities in the mPOA that precede and correlate with sexually dimorphic display of male-typical mounting and female-typical pup retrieval. Strikingly, optogenetic stimulation of the mPOA elicits similar display of mounting and pup retrieval in both males and females. Furthermore, by means of recording, ablation, optogenetic activation, and inhibition, we show mPOA neurons expressing estrogen receptor alpha (Esr1) are essential for the sexually biased display of these behaviors. Together, these results underscore the shared layout of the brain that can mediate sex-specific behaviors in both male and female mice and provide an important functional frame to decode neural mechanisms governing sexually dimorphic behaviors in the future.