Distinct Neural Representations of Hunger and Thirst in Neonatal Mice before the Emergence of Food- and Water-seeking Behaviors.

ABSTRACT: Hunger and thirst are two fundamental drives for maintaining homeostasis and elicit distinct food- and water-seeking behaviors essential for survival. For neonatal mammals, however, both hunger and thirst are sated by consuming milk from their mother. While distinct neural circuits underlying hunger and thirst drives in the adult brain have been characterized, it is unclear when these distinctions emerge in neonates and what processes may affect their development. Here we show that hypothalamic hunger and thirst regions already exhibit specific responses to starvation and dehydration well before a neonatal mouse can seek food and water separately. At this early age, hunger neurons drive feeding behaviors more than do thirst neurons. In vivo Neuropixels recordings in dehydrated and s

SUBMITTER: Wang DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11463676 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature