Ivan Alcantara

While our analyses only focused on neurons, we also collected and sequenced non-neuronal cell types. If you’re interested in these cell types or if you’d like to analyze the neurons from scratch, feel free to dive into the raw data: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/ac...

Ever wondered how fasting and lactation affect gene expression in the hypothalamus? Looking for a dataset to mine? Look no further! We performed single-cell RNA sequencing of the arcuate nucleus and medial preoptic area in 4 groups of female mice: zenodo.org/records/1531...

Thanks Giacomo!!!

A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is probably my favorite comment from a reviewer. Sometimes, less is more 😉

Read the full transcript of the reviewers’ comments and our responses for our recent @nature.com publication here: static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10...

Thanks Cate! You guys are next! 😄

Thank you! Miss you and the rest of the Correa lab!

Really cool work! I actually presented the preprint at journal club the day before it came out in Nature 😅

🚨Very happy that my PhD work is now out in @nature.com!

We discovered that evolution, by acting in the midbrain, shifted the threshold to escape in Peromyscus mice, to fine-tune defensive strategies in different environments

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This was a truly collaborative effort! 🧵⬇️

Thanks Andrew!

Thank you! 🤗

PDF here if the article is paywalled: drive.google.com/file/d/1bGCy...

Thanks Ramón for not only running experiments but also providing your expert advice on BRS3 neurons. Not a tiny contribution!

Thank you! 😊

Thank you Tom!

Thanks Zeena!

A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.

Terrific study, led by @ivancalcantara.bsky.social, on the neural circuitry underlying the prioritisation of competing motivated behaviors, out in @nature.com
🧪🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks so much! 🤗

Great question! Unfortunately we did not look at pup sex. Our assays consisted of 5 pups with likely mixed sexes, and moms are very good at retrieving all of them even if they’re hungry, although we don’t know if male or female pups are more likely to get retrieved first.

Last, stimulating AgRP neurons dampens the basal activity of BRS3 neurons, making them less responsive to pups. This AgRP-to-BRS3 circuit may therefore underlie the process through which hunger can redirect an animal’s motivations from caring for offspring to foraging for food.

Using single-cell RNA sequencing and neuronal manipulations, we identified an MPOA population important for parenting and satiety: bombesin receptor subtype-3 (BRS3) neurons. Activation of these neurons can even make some virgin males (which typically attack pups) more parental.

The shift from parenting to foraging can be mimicked by stimulating AgRP neurons (with light!) that talk to the medial preoptic area (MPOA). AgRP neurons are inhibitory, so this suggests that there might be MPOA neurons that control both parenting and satiety downstream of AgRP.

But what if mice have to choose between feeding or caring for pups? Fasted virgin females prioritize feeding while fasted mothers prioritize parenting. However, hunger still reduces overall parenting behaviors in both groups, suggesting that it can suppress parenting neurons.

New mothers need more calories to produce milk. We found that lactating mice show increased activity of “hunger neurons” called agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons in the hypothalamus, which also express certain genes that mimic a state of fasting, even if animals are well fed.

A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.

How do animals decide if they should forage for food or stay home to take care of newborn offspring? Whose needs come first? For my PhD work now out in Nature, we examined how hunger and parenting neurons interact and are reshaped postpartum in mice 🧵⬇️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The New York Times’ Latest Attack on Zohran Mamdani Is Embarrassing I'm mixed as hell.

@nytimes.com recent attack on Zohran Mamdani was bullshit and angered me as a mixed person. We exist. Sorry, we don't fit into your boxes.

if anyone at the NYT wants to talk about this rufo/mamdani/columbia leak clusterfuck, i’m marisakabas.04 on signal

a political consultancy that does what now?

First time having my own apartment! Crazy to think that until I was 17, we lived in a 1-bedroom as a family of 5.

Stoked to share our new review on why neuroendocrinology needs a systems lens and why hormones should matter to systems neuroscience. It’s time for serious cross-talk!