弗朗西斯·克里克研究所Johannes Kohl小组在研究中取得进展。他们开发出饥饿和激素状态的整合抑制了婴儿定向攻击。2025年10月22日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

在这里，该团队报告了饥饿和雌激素状态如何汇聚在内侧视前区（MPOA）的神经元上，以塑造婴儿导向的行为。该课题组发现，在通常不具攻击性的处女雌性小鼠中，饥饿促进了幼鼠定向攻击。这种行为转换是通过抑制MPOA神经元发生的，由神经肽的释放驱动Y来自弓形核中表达Agouti相关肽的神经元（ArcAgRP神经元）。饥饿引发的攻击倾向是由生殖状态决定的，MPOA神经元可以检测到整个雌激素周期中黄体酮与雌二醇比例的变化。饥饿和雌性状态汇聚在超极化激活的环核苷酸门控（HCN）通道上，这决定了MPOA神经元的基线活性和兴奋性。利用显微内窥镜成像，该研究组在体内证实了这些发现，揭示了MPOA神经元编码幼鼠定向攻击的状态。这项工作提供了一个机制的理解如何多种生理状态被整合灵活地控制社会行为。

研究人员表示，社会行为基本上是由内部生理状态形成的。尽管在了解个体状态如饥饿、压力或芳香如何调节行为方面取得了进展，但动物在任何给定时间都经历多种状态。整合这些正交状态的神经机制——以及这种整合如何影响行为——仍然知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Integration of hunger and hormonal state gates infant-directed aggression

Author: Cao, Mingran, Ammari, Rachida, Chen, Maxwell X., Wai, Patty, Jamieson, Bradley B., Liang, Swang, Husain, Basma F. A., Sahni, Aashna, Legrave, Nathalie, Salgarella, Irene, MacRae, James, Strom, Molly, Kohl, Johannes

Issue&Volume: 2025-10-22

Abstract: Social behaviour is substantially shaped by internal physiological states. Although progress has been made in understanding how individual states such as hunger, stress or arousal modulate behaviour1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, animals experience multiple states at any given time10. The neural mechanisms that integrate such orthogonal states—and how this integration affects behaviour—remain poorly understood. Here we report how hunger and oestrous state converge on neurons in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) to shape infant-directed behaviour. We find that hunger promotes pup-directed aggression in normally non-aggressive virgin female mice. This behavioural switch occurs through the inhibition of MPOA neurons, driven by the release of neuropeptideY from Agouti-related peptide-expressing neurons in the arcuate nucleus (ArcAgRP neurons). The propensity for hunger-induced aggression is set by reproductive state, with MPOA neurons detecting changes in the progesterone to oestradiol ratio across the oestrous cycle. Hunger and oestrous state converge on hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels, which sets the baseline activity and excitability of MPOA neurons. Using microendoscopy imaging, we confirm these findings in vivo, revealing that MPOA neurons encode a state for pup-directed aggression. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of how multiple physiological states are integrated to flexibly control social behaviour.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09651-2

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09651-2