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Father and child reunion

Nature Neuroscience volume 13, pages 652–653 (2010)Cite this article

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A study in this issue finds that laboratory strains of male mice can recognize their offspring as adults if given the chance to interact with infant pups. This recognition requires prolactin-mediated adult neurogenesis in the male parent's olfactory bulb and hippocampus.

Motherhood is a fact, but fatherhood a matter of opinion, a truism that has plagued the harsher sex since the origins of heterogametic reproduction. Females are present at both critical events that define their status as mothers, conception and delivery, whereas males may be there for the former, but out looking for cheese during the latter. When he returns, who's to say that wriggly pink thing is really his? Should he commit energy to caring for them? And if so, will he still know them when they are grown? Prior to the findings reported by Mak and Weiss in this issue1, the presumed answer to this was no. However, the authors found that mouse fathers are much better at distinguishing their own young than previously believed and learn to recognize their newly born offspring after spending a relatively brief period of time caring for them. They also found that this recognition is mediated by prolactin-mediated adult neurogenesis in the male mouse's olfactory bulb and hippocampus.

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Figure 1: Male mice form a recognition memory for their own young.

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  1. The author is in the Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.,

    Margaret M McCarthy

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  1. Margaret M McCarthy
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Correspondence to Margaret M McCarthy.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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McCarthy, M. Father and child reunion. Nat Neurosci 13, 652–653 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0610-652

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