Investigation of Oxtr-expressing Neurons Projecting to Nucleus Accumbens using Oxtr-ires-Cre Knock-in prairie Voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

•Prairie voles are a model species for studying neural mechanisms of social behavior.•We generated the first CRISPR generated Oxtr-ires-Cre knock-in prairie vole.•Cre mRNA was restricted to Oxtr cells, but aggregated, reducing translation.•CRE-dependent retrograde viruses were used to identify Oxtr neurons projecting to nucleus accumbens.•Oxtr neurons in the ACC project to nucleus accumbens, and may represent a species-specific circuit.