A class of nerve cell has different effects on social and anxiety-related behaviours in male and female mice in response to a hormone involved in social interaction.

Many social and emotional disorders seem to disproportionately affect a particular gender — anxiety disorders, for example, are more common in women. To investigate this, Nathaniel Heintz and his colleagues at the Rockefeller University in New York City activated neurons that are sensitive to the hormone oxytocin in the medial prefrontal cortex of the mouse brain. This did not affect males' sociality, but did reduce anxiety-related behaviours. In females, however, it made the animals more social without lowering anxiety-related behaviours. The female mice also had more of a key stress hormone in the brain, which probably blocked the anti-anxiety effects of oxytocin that were seen in males.

Further studies could lead to gender-specific therapies for social disorders.

Cell http://doi.org/bqpp (2016)