ArticlePloS one2021
An acute dose of intranasal oxytocin rapidly increases maternal communication and maintains maternal care in primiparous postpartum California mice.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Translational pathways of oxytocin therapy in schizophrenia: bridging negative symptom domains and neural mechanisms.Translational psychiatry · 2026Review
- Courtship and distress ultrasonic vocalizations are altered in a mouse model of Angelman syndrome.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2025Article
- Failure in the mother-young communication in domestic mammals: endocrine and behavioral aspects.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Review
- Divergent neural nodes are species- and hormone-dependent in the brood parasitic brain.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2024Article
- Rodent ultrasonic vocal interaction resolved with millimeter precision using hybrid beamforming.eLife · 2023Article
- Neuroendocrine mechanisms contributing to the coevolution of sociality and communication.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2023Review
- Endolysosomal TPCs regulate social behavior by controlling oxytocin secretion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Temporal dynamics of isolation calls emitted by pups in environmental and genetic mouse models of autism spectrum disorder.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- The role of oxytocin in shaping complex social behaviours: possible interactions with other neuromodulators.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- Oxytocin in Women's Health and Disease.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Review
- Effects of Prenatal Phthalate Exposure and Childhood Exercise on Maternal Behaviors in Female Rats at Postpartum: A Role ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- Intranasal oxytocin drives coordinated social approach.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Review
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Maternal-offspring communication and care are essential for offspring survival. Oxytocin (OXT) is known for its role in initiation of maternal care, but whether OXT can rapidly influence maternal behavior or ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs; above 50 kHz) has not been examined. To test for rapid effects of OXT, California mouse mothers were administered an acute intranasal (IN) dose of OXT (0.8 IU/kg) or saline followed by a separation test with three phases: habituation with pups in a new testing chamber, separation via a wire mesh, and finally reunion with pups. We measured maternal care, maternal USVs, and pup USVs. In mothers, we primarily observed simple sweep USVs, a short downward sweeping call around 50 kHz, and in pups we only observed pup whines, a long call with multiple harmonics ranging from 20 kHz to 50 kHz. We found that IN OXT rapidly and selectively enhanced the normal increase in maternal simple sweep USVs when mothers had physical access to pups (habituation and reunion), but not when mothers were physically separated from pups. Frequency of mothers' and pups' USVs were correlated upon reunion, but IN OXT did not influence this correlation. Finally, mothers given IN OXT showed more efficient pup retrieval/carrying and greater total maternal care upon reunion. Behavioral changes were specific to maternal behaviors (e.g. retrievals) as mothers given IN OXT did not differ from controls in stress-related behaviors (e.g. freezing). Overall, these findings highlight the rapid effects and context-dependent effect a single treatment with IN OXT has on both maternal USV production and offspring care.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.