{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T16:37:12Z","timestamp":1792859832271,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"S. Karger AG","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792713600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/pages\/terms-and-conditions"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792713600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/pages\/terms-and-conditions"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Neuroendocrinology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Consolation behavior is defined as an increase in affiliative contact toward a distressed individual and is associated with the physical and emotional well-being of social species. Allogrooming a distressed individual represents a primary form of consolation behavior and is considered as a complex type of empathy. However, the neural mechanisms underlying allogrooming remain poorly understood. In this study, using adult male and female monogamous mandarin voles (Lasiopodomys mandarinus, approximately three-month-old), we demonstrate that individuals exhibited significantly more allogrooming toward a defeated same-sex littermate than toward a defeated stranger, indicating effects of familiarity on consolation. Social interaction with a defeated cagemate elicited more activity of paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) neurons, medial amygdala (MeA) and PVN oxytocin (OT) neurons compared to interaction with a stranger male. Using cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) as a retrograde tracer, we confirmed that PVN OT neurons project to the MeA. Fiber photometry recording revealed that the activity of both PVN OT neurons projecting to MeA and OTR-expressing neurons in the MeA was significantly elevated during allogrooming a defeated cagemate. Furthermore, in both male and female voles, overexpression of oxytocin receptor (OTR) mRNA in the MeA increased allogrooming time toward a defeated stranger, whereas interference of OTR mRNA expression in the MeA significantly reduced allogrooming toward a defeated cagemate. These findings demonstrate that mandarin voles display different levels of allogrooming toward distressed siblings or strangers and reveal a critical role for the PVN-to-MeA oxytocinergic pathway in encoding and modulating allogrooming behavior.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1159\/nen\/advag009","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T16:02:06Z","timestamp":1792857726000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The PVN-to-MeA Oxytocinergic Pathway Encodes Social Relationship\u2013Dependent Consolation Behavior in Mandarin Voles"],"prefix":"10.1159","author":[{"given":"Lizi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xing","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caihong","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lu","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenjuan","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yitong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhixiong","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6804-4179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fadao","family":"Tai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"127","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]]},"container-title":["Neuroendocrinology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1159\/nen\/advag009","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T16:02:06Z","timestamp":1792857726000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/article\/doi\/10.1159\/nen\/advag009"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1159\/nen\/advag009","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0028-3835","1423-0194"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0028-3835","type":"print"},{"value":"1423-0194","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]]}}}