Topic: paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus

As social creatures, we are impacted by the mere presence of our conspecifics. Behavioural adaptations, such as an increased drive for social interaction following isolation, have been linked to circuit changes involving oxytocin signalling, but the underlying molecular and cellular changes remain unclear. We used a juvenile social isolation paradigm, wherein male mice are single-housed between P21-P28, and their social behaviour is subsequently examined in a five-trial social recognition / interaction test. In this assay, we observed a lack of social habituation, whereas social recognition wa

In addition to its role in determining sleep need, Salt-inducible kinase 3 (Sik3) is likely to regulate energy homeostasis since mice mutant for exon 13 of the Sik3 gene (Sleepy) display an obese phenotype. The main objective of this project is to identify the role of SIK3 in the central nervous system in the regulation of energy balance. To achieve this, neuron-specific mutant mice lines for the Sleepy gene were generated, as well as viral genetic approaches in Sik3-ex13 floxed mice were used to identify the brain regions involved in SIK3 actions. Our data showed that Vglut2-specific Sleepy m