Sex differences in brain pathway usage during caregiving

Caring for vulnerable newborns is crucial for the survival of mammals, but the exact brain pathways used during caregiving are not fully understood. Led by Assistant Professor Anita Autry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, researchers have recently discovered that in mice, specialized neurons connecting two areas of the hypothalamus (a brain region that sits just above the brainstem) are highly active in females during interactions with young pups and play a critical role in caring behaviours like grooming. In males, however, these neuronal connections, although anatomically the same, only briefly activate during an initial exploratory pup sniffing stage and are more tuned to regulating responses to stress. Collectively, the findings by Carta et al. provide insights into sex-specific biology related to parental care and stress regulation and clinically, may help to uncover neuronal connections associated with parental health during the postpartum period.

Study: Carta, I., Arora, T., Lutzu, S. et al. Sex-specific hypothalamic neural projection activity drives caregiving in mice. Nat Commun 16, 4116 (2025).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59352-7