{"paper_id":"276a1af3-050f-4878-a4db-e8ca564ab891","body_text":"Concerted actions of distinct serotonin neurons orchestrate female pup care behavior | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Biological Sciences - Article Concerted actions of distinct serotonin neurons orchestrate female pup care behavior Liqun Luo, Shuyun Xiao, Che Chen, Patricia Horvath, Valerie Tsai, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7134286/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In many mammalian species, female behavior towards infant conspecifics changes across reproductive stages. Sexually naïve females interact minimally or aggressively with infants, whereas the same animals exhibit extensive care behavior, even towards unrelated infants, after parturition1–6. Here, we discovered that two distinct sets of serotonin neurons collectively mediate this dramatic transition in maternal behavior—serotonin neurons projecting to the medial preoptic area (mPOA) promote pup care in mothers, whereas those projecting to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) suppress pup interaction in virgin female mice. Disrupting serotonin synthesis in either of these subpopulations or stimulating either subpopulation is sufficient to toggle pup-directed behavior between that displayed by virgin females and that of lactating mothers. In virgin female mice, the first pup interaction triggers an increase in serotonin release in BNST but a decrease in mPOA. In mothers, serotonin activity becomes greatly elevated in mPOA during pup interactions. Acute interruption of serotonin signaling locally in either mPOA or BNST disrupts the stage-dependent switch in pup care. Together, these results highlight how functionally distinct serotonin subpopulations orchestrate social behaviors appropriate for a given reproductive state, and suggest a circuit logic for how a neuromodulator coordinates adaptive behavioral changes across life stages. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Social behaviour Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Neural circuits Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Video1CoronalFlythroughTRAPiDISCO.mov Supplementary Video 1 Video2WTpupinteractions.mov Supplementary Video 2 Video35HTmPOAcKOmotherspupinteractions.mov Supplementary Video 3 Video45HTBNSTcKOpupinteractions.mov Supplementary Video 4 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {\"props\":{\"pageProps\":{\"initialData\":{\"identity\":\"rs-7134286\",\"acceptedTermsAndConditions\":true,\"allowDirectSubmit\":true,\"archivedVersions\":[],\"articleType\":\"Biological Sciences - Article\",\"associatedPublications\":[],\"authors\":[{\"id\":493935250,\"identity\":\"6844f197-9148-4855-9d60-4e4588dc675f\",\"order_by\":0,\"name\":\"Liqun 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