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Serotonergic transcriptional programming determines maternal behavior and offspring survival

Jessica K Lerch-Haner1, Dargan Frierson, LaTasha K Crawford

  • 1Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, 2109 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA.

Nature Neuroscience
|January 23, 2009
PubMed

Central serotonergic signaling influences many physiological processes, but a requirement for reproductive success has not been demonstrated. Using mouse dams with a specific disruption in serotonin neuron development, we found that serotonergic function is required for the nurturing and survival of offspring. Full rescue of survival depended on the mother's expression level of the upstream serotonergic transcriptional cascade. Thus, intrinsic transcriptional programming of maternal serotonergic activity determines the quality of nurturing and whether or not the organism survives.

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