Like humans, common marmoset monkeys utilize family cooperation for infant care, but the neural mechanisms underlying primate parental behaviors remain largely unknown. We investigated infant care behaviors of captive marmosets in family settings and caregiver-infant dyadic situations. Marmoset caregivers exhibited individual variations in parenting styles, comprised of sensitivity and tolerance toward infants, consistently across infants, social contexts and multiple births. Seeking the neural basis of these parenting styles, we demonstrated that the calcitonin receptor-expressing neurons in the marmoset medial preoptic area (MPOA) were transcriptionally activated during infant care, as in laboratory mice. Further, site-specific neurotoxic lesions of this MPOA subregion, termed the cMPOA, significantly reduced alloparental tolerance and total infant carrying, while sparing general health and other social or nonsocial behaviors. These results suggest that the molecularly-defined neural site cMPOA is responsible for mammalian parenting, thus provide an invaluable model to study the neural basis of parenting styles in primates.

与人类一样，普通的狨猴利用家庭合作来照顾婴儿，但灵长类动物父母行为背后的神经机制在很大程度上仍然未知。我们调查了圈养狨猴在家庭环境和照顾者-婴儿二元情况下的婴儿护理行为。狨猴的照顾者在养育方式上表现出个体差异，包括对婴儿的敏感性和容忍度，在婴儿、社会背景和多胞胎中始终如一。为了寻找这些养育方式的神经基础，我们证明了狨猴内侧视前区 (MPOA) 中表达降钙素受体的神经元在婴儿护理期间被转录激活，就像在实验室小鼠中一样。此外，该 MPOA 子区域的特定部位神经毒性损伤，称为 cMPOA，显着降低异亲耐受性和总婴儿携带率，同时避免一般健康和其他社会或非社会行为。这些结果表明分子定义的神经位点 cMPOA 负责哺乳动物的养育，从而为研究灵长类动物养育方式的神经基础提供了宝贵的模型。