According to findings, published online Sept. 2023 in the journal Nature, when a mouse pup starts crying, sound information travels to an area of its mother’s brain called the posterior intralaminar nucleus of the thalamus (PIL). This sensory hub then sends signals to oxytocin-releasing brain cells (neurons) in another region called the hypothalamus, a control center for hormone activity. Scientists have also found out that in humans, hearing the sound of a newborn’s wail can trigger the release of oxytocin, a brain chemical that controls breast-milk release in mothers, a new study in rodents shows. Researchers found that once prompted, this flood of hormones continues for roughly five minutes before tapering off, enabling mothers to feed their young until they are sated or begin crying again. This is the reason we study cells to understand their activity. Grade 7 will therefore be spending the rest of the term studying about different types of cells including brain cells.
