Regulation of social interaction in mice by a frontostriatal circuit modulated by established hierarchical relationships. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Social hierarchies exert a powerful influence on behavior, but the neurobiological mechanisms that detect and regulate hierarchical interactions are not well understood, especially at the level of neural circuits. Here, we use fiber photometry and chemogenetic tools to record and manipulate the activity of nucleus accumbens-projecting cells in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC-NAcSh) during tube test social competitions. We show that vmPFC-NAcSh projections signal learned hierarchical relationships, and are selectively recruited by subordinate mice when they initiate effortful social dominance behavior during encounters with a dominant competitor from an established hierarchy. After repeated bouts of social defeat stress, this circuit is preferentially activated during social interactions initiated by stress resilient individuals, and plays a necessary role in supporting social approach behavior in subordinated mice. These results define a necessary role for vmPFC-NAcSh cells in the adaptive regulation of social interaction behavior based on prior hierarchical interactions.

publication date

  • April 29, 2023

Research

keywords

  • Social Behavior
  • Social Interaction

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC10148889

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85156174855

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.014

PubMed ID

  • 37120443

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 14

issue

  • 1