Giving birth improves spatial memory in rodents. A new study shows that oxytocin, which triggers birth and milk release, activates a signaling cascade involved in learning, and that this hormone is necessary and sufficient for memory improvement in mice that have had litters.
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Monks, D., Lonstein, J. & Breedlove, S. Got milk? Oxytocin triggers hippocampal plasticity. Nat Neurosci 6, 327–328 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0403-327
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0403-327
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