{"id":202797,"global_id":"www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/?id=202797","global_id_lineage":["www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/?id=202797"],"author":"108","status":"publish","date":"2026-06-01 15:59:33","date_utc":"2026-06-01 13:59:33","modified":"2026-08-06 09:45:46","modified_utc":"2026-08-06 07:45:46","url":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/event\/soutenance-de-these-tessa-scarabello\/","rest_url":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/events\/202797","title":"Soutenance de th\u00e8se – <\/span>Tessa Scarabello","description":"

Venue: Centre Broca<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Tessa Scarabello<\/strong>
\nIINS<\/p>\n

Directrice de th\u00e8se : Lisa Roux<\/p>\n

Titre<\/h3>\n

Olfaction and Oxytocin in female alloparental behaviors<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h3>\n

Alloparental behaviors de\u00adne the set of actions undertaken by adults to insure the survival of other individuals\u2019 progeny such as crouching over the young, retrieval, or parental nesting. The very fi\u00adrst encounter with a pup is able to trigger these behaviors in naive virgin mice and performances improve upon repeated exposures. Though, the neurobiological substrates of this phenomenon are still unclear. Previous work highlighted the importance of auditory cues and oxytocin (OT) release in the auditory cortex of virgin females for the establishment of retrieval behavior. Yet, the role played by olfaction in the transition of mice from naive to efficient caretakers so far remains little explored. The goal of this work was to assess the impact of olfaction in the establishment of parental nesting in naive female mice, as well as the influence of oxytocinergic neuromodulation in the olfactory piriform cortex (PIR).<\/p>\n

Within just a few minutes, naive C57Bl6\/J female mice exposed to pups start building a parental nest. We showed that masking pup odor delays the onset of nesting in these mice, highlighting the role of olfaction in triggering this behavior. Using immunochemistry in the Oxtr-3xHA-T2A-iCreERT2 mouse line, we showed that oxytocin receptors (OTR) are expressed in the deep layer of the PIR. To selectively suppress the expression of these receptors in the PIR and test the impact on nesting, we adopted a viral approach to express the cre-recombinase locally in the PIR of Oxtr[flox] mice. Similar to previous experiment with pup odor masking, this local knock-out of the OTR in the PIR impaired nesting behavior, compared to mice injected with a control virus. To assess the dynamics of OT signaling in the PIR during our task and in particular during pup olfactory investigation preceding the start of nesting, we monitored mice with fi\u00adber photometry using a recently designed OT GRAB sensor. Finally, using a cutting-edge brain clearing technique and brain-wide activity mapping (iDISCO), we compared the brains of naive females exposed for the fi\u00adrst time to a pup with or without a local knock-out of the OTR in the PIR. We found differences at the level of deep brain structures such as the prefrontal cortex.<\/p>\n

This work paves the way for future research to understand how olfaction and its modulation by OT shapes pup-directed behavioral changes in naive female mice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Keywords:<\/strong> Alloparental behaviors; Oxytocin\u00a0; Olfaction<\/p>\n

Jury<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Mme BUONVISO Nathalie, DR, CRNL, Lyon – Rapportrice<\/li>\n
  • Mme CARCEA Ioana, AP, Rutgers Brain Health Institute, N.J – Rapportrice<\/li>\n
  • Mme MUSCATELLI Fran\u00e7oise, DR, INMED, Marseille – Examinatrice<\/li>\n
  • M.\u00a0\u00a0RENIER Nicolas, DR, ICM, Paris – Examinateur<\/li>\n
  • Mme ROUX Lisa, DR, IINS, Bordeaux – Directrice de th\u00e8se<\/li>\n
  • M. FERREIRA Guillaume, DR, INRAE, Bordeaux – Invit\u00e9<\/li>\n<\/ul>","excerpt":"

    Olfaction and Oxytocin in female alloparental behaviors \/\/ Venue: Centre Broca<\/p>","slug":"soutenance-de-these-tessa-scarabello","image":false,"all_day":false,"start_date":"2026-09-29 14:00:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2026","month":"09","day":"29","hour":"14","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2026-09-29 14:00:00","end_date_details":{"year":"2026","month":"09","day":"29","hour":"14","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_start_date":"2026-09-29 12:00:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2026","month":"09","day":"29","hour":"12","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2026-09-29 12:00:00","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2026","month":"09","day":"29","hour":"12","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"timezone":"Europe\/Paris","timezone_abbr":"CEST","cost":"","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"","currency_position":"suffix","values":[]},"website":"","show_map":false,"show_map_link":false,"hide_from_listings":false,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[{"name":"Thesis","slug":"theses-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":187,"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","description":"","parent":0,"count":281,"filter":"raw","id":187,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories\/187","collection":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories"}}],"tags":[],"venue":[],"organizer":[],"json_ld":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Event","name":"<span>Soutenance de th\u00e8se – <\/span>Tessa Scarabello","description":"<p>Olfaction and Oxytocin in female alloparental behaviors \/\/ Venue: Centre Broca<\/p>\\n","url":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/event\/soutenance-de-these-tessa-scarabello\/","startDate":"2026-09-29T14:00:00+02:00","endDate":"2026-09-29T14:00:00+02:00","performer":"Organization"}}