Sox2 acts as a transcriptional repressor in neural stem cells.

Background: The transcription factor, Sox2, is central to the behaviour of neural stem cells. It is also one of the key embryonic stem cell factors that, when overexpressed can convert somatic cells into induced pluripotent cells. Although generally studied as a transcriptional activator, recent evidence suggests that it might also repress gene expression.

Neonatal maternal separation alters reward-related ultrasonic vocalizations in rat dams.

We examined the effects of brief or long durations of repeated maternal separation (MS) on ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in rat dams. 50-kHz USVs putatively identified as maternal in origin were emitted only immediately after pups were returned following MS. Maternal USV emission also depended on separation duration and pup age.