Paraventricular hypothalamic vasopressin neurons induce self-grooming in mice

Self-grooming plays an essential role in hygiene maintenance, thermoregulation, and stress response. However, the neural populations involved in self-grooming remain largely unknown. The paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVH) has been implicated in the regulation of self-grooming. Arginine vasopressin-producing neurons are among the major neuronal populations in the PVH (PVH(AVP)), which play important roles in water homeostasis, blood pressure regulation, feeding, and stress response. Here, we report the critical role of PVH(AVP) neurons in the induction of self-grooming. Optogenetic activation of PVH(AVP) neurons immediately induced self-grooming in freely moving mice. Chemogenetic activation of these neurons also increased time spent self-grooming. In contrast, their chemogenetic inhibition significantly reduced naturally occurring self-grooming, suggesting that PVH(AVP)-induced grooming has physiological relevance. Notably, optogenetic activation of PVH(AVP) neurons triggered self-grooming over other adaptive behaviors, such as voracious feeding induced by fasting and social interaction with female mice. Thus, our study proposes the novel role of PVH(AVP) neurons in regulating self-grooming behavior and, consequently, hygiene maintenance and stress response. Furthermore, uncontrolled activation of these neurons may be potentially relevant to diseases characterized by compulsive behaviors and impaired social interaction, such as autism, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and anorexia nervosa. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13041-022-00932-9.