Social touch promotes interfemale communication via activation of parvocellular oxytocin neurons
Open accessAbstract
Oxytocin (OT) is a great facilitator of social life but, although its effects on socially relevant brain regions have been extensively studied, OT neuron activity during actual social interactions remains unexplored. Most OT neurons are magnocellular neurons, which simultaneously project to the pituitary and forebrain regions involved in social behaviors. In the present study, we show that a much smaller population of OT neurons, parvocellular neurons that do not project to the pituitary but synapse onto magnocellular neurons, is preferentially activated by somatosensory stimuli. This activation is transmitted to the larger population of magnocellular neurons, which consequently show coordinated increases in their activity during social interactions between virgin female rats. Selectively activating these parvocellular neurons promotes social motivation, whereas inhibiting them reduces social interactions. Thus, parvocellular OT neurons receive particular inputs to control social behavior by coordinating the responses of the much larger population of magnocellular OT neurons.
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Positive effects of touch from others are likely mediated by increased secretion of oxytocin.
“positive effects are likely mediated by increased secretion of the neuropeptide oxytocin [6,[16], [17], [18], [19]].”
From Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress: A randomized controlled trial on stress, physical touch, and social identity (2021) · cites this paper as [6]
The indexed Abstract (page unavailable) describes oxytocin release in pain modulation, but does not link touch to increased oxytocin secretion or to its positive effects. Searches for social touch, secretion, and oxytocin release found no passage in our copy establishing that link. (LLM, conf=0.72)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOur finding that receiving hugs from people is effective irrespective of sharing a social identity with them is in line with the benefits of massage therapy and animal studies.
“Despite these potential explanations, our finding that receiving hugs from people is effective irrespective of sharing a social identity with them is in line with the benefits of massage therapy [4,5] and animal studies (e.g., Ref. [6]).”
From Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress: A randomized controlled trial on stress, physical touch, and social identity (2021) · cites this paper as [6]
The References section names Tang et al.’s social-touch study, but the body passages returned from our copy discuss oxytocin-mediated analgesia in rats rather than benefits of social touch. A search for social touch and its effects did not find a passage establishing the animal-study comparison for which this citation is used. The apparent mismatch between the indexed title and body text prevents verification from our copy. (LLM, conf=0.75)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn rats and mice, several regions provide input to paraventricular oxytocin-expressing cells, including brainstem, thalamic, hypothalamic, and cortical cell populations.
“In rats and mice, several regions provide input to PVN OXT-expressing cells, including the brainstem, thalamic, hypothalamic, and cortical cell populations (56-58)”
From Oxytocin, Vasopressin, and Social Behavior: From Neural Circuits to Clinical Opportunities (2022) · cites this paper as [57]
OXT neurons are activated in response to social stimuli including social touch, infant cries and mating.
“Furthermore, OXT neurons are activated in response to social stimuli including social touch 20, infant cries 21 and mating.”
From Social experience alters oxytocinergic modulation in the nucleus accumbens of female prairie voles (2022) · cites this paper as [20]
PVN oxytocin cells receive projections from many areas of the brain.
“PVN oxytocin cells receive projections from many areas of the brain”
From Neural circuitry for maternal oxytocin release induced by infant cries (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
The PIL is part of the nonlemniscal auditory pathway that projects to the PVN.
“The PIL is part of the nonlemniscal auditory pathway that projects to the PVN13,21,22”
From Neural circuitry for maternal oxytocin release induced by infant cries (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
Parvocellular neurons can directly activate magnocellular neurons and have been proposed to operate as master cells that control the activity of magnocellular cells and gate oxytocin release.
“Parvocellular neurons can also directly activate magnocellular neurons and have been proposed to operate as ‘master cells’ that control the activity of magnocellular cells and gate oxytocin release1,13.”
From Neural circuitry for maternal oxytocin release induced by infant cries (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
These TIP39 neurons co-express calbindin and VGlut2 and form presumed excitatory synapses with oxytocin neurons in the PVH.
“These neurons co-express calbindin and vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGlut2), and form presumed excitatory synapses with oxytocin neurons in the PVH (3, 12)”
From Social Interaction Elicits Activity in Glutamatergic Neurons in the Posterior Intralaminar Complex of the Thalamus (2024) · cites this paper as [12]
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References 65 · Cited by 249
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- Authors
- Tang, Y., Benusiglio, D., Lefevre, A., Hilfiger, L., Althammer, F., Bludau, A., Hagiwara, D., Baudon, A., Darbon, P., Schimmer, J., Kirchner, M. K., Roy, R. K., Wang, S., Eliava, M., Wagner, S., Oberhuber, M., Conzelmann, K. K., Schwarz, M., Stern, J. E., Leng, G., Neumann, I. D., Charlet, A., & Grinevich, V.
- Affiliations
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Georgia State University (US)
- University of Regensburg (DE)
- University of Haifa (IL)
- Max-von-Pettenkofer-Institut für Hygiene und Medizinische Mikrobiologie (DE)
- University of Bonn (DE)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- ORCID
- Tang, Yan
- Benusiglio, Diego
- Lefevre, Arthur
- Hilfiger, Louis
- Althammer, Ferdinand
- Bludau, Anna
- Hagiwara, Daisuke
- Baudon, Angel
- Darbon, Pascal
- Schimmer, Jonas
- Kirchner, Matthew K.
- Roy, Ranjan K.
- Wagner, Shlomo
- Oberhuber, Martina
- Conzelmann, Karl K.
- Schwarz, Martin
- Stern, Javier E.
- Leng, Gareth
- Charlet, Alexandre
- Grinevich, Valery
- Venue
- Nature Neuroscience
- Published
- 2020-07-27
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1125-1137
- ISSN
- 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1726
- OpenAlex
- W3045202423
- Cited by
- 249
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 10 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 42.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hal.science
- Locations
- Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Regensburg Publication Server (University of Regensburg) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Georgia State University
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (24821)
- Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (57552337)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AL 2466/1-1, GR 3619/16‐1, 3619/16-1, 3619/701, GR 3619/15-1, GR 3619/701, 459051339)
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (UPR3212, ANR-17-EURE-, ANR-19-CE16-0011, ANR-17, ANR-17-EURE-0022)
- Fondation Fyssen
- Université de Strasbourg (ANR-17-EURE-0022, UPR3212)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (ANR‐17‐EURE‐0022, UPR3212)
- National Institutes of Health
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/S000224/1)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL090948, HL090948)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS094640)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
- Keywords
- oxytocin, social touch, somatosensory stimuli, social motivation, social behavior, oxytocin neurons, magnocellular neurons
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Female, Neurons, Oxytocin, Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus, Social Behavior, Touch, Rats, Wistar, Rats, Touch Perception
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