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Ross TW, Poulter SL, Lever C, Easton A. Mice integrate conspecific and contextual information in forming social episodic-like memories under spontaneous recognition task conditions. Sci Rep 2024; 14:16159. [PMID: 38997341 PMCID: PMC11245605 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66403-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The ability to remember unique past events (episodic memory) may be an evolutionarily conserved function, with accumulating evidence of episodic-(like) memory processing in rodents. In humans, it likely contributes to successful complex social networking. Rodents, arguably the most used laboratory models, are also rather social animals. However, many behavioural paradigms are devoid of sociality, and commonly-used social spontaneous recognition tasks (SRTs) are open to non-episodic strategies based upon familiarity. We address this gap by developing new SRT variants. Here, in object-in-context SRTs, we asked if context could be specified by the presence/absence of either a conspecific (experiment 1) or an additional local object (experiment 2). We show that mice readily used the conspecific as contextual information to distinguish unique episodes in memory. In contrast, no coherent behavioural response emerged when an additional object was used as a potential context specifier. Further, in a new social conspecific-in-context SRT (experiment 3) where environment-based change was the context specifier, mice preferably explored a more recently-seen familiar conspecific associated with contextual mismatch, over a less recently-seen familiar conspecific presented in the same context. The results argue that, in incidental SRT conditions, mice readily incorporate conspecific cue information into episodic-like memory. Thus, the tasks offer different ways to assess and further understand the mechanisms at work in social episodic-like memory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- T W Ross
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
- Centre for Learning and Memory Processes, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - S L Poulter
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
- Centre for Learning and Memory Processes, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - C Lever
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
- Centre for Learning and Memory Processes, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - A Easton
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
- Centre for Learning and Memory Processes, Durham University, Durham, UK
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2
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Xu QW, Larosa A, Wong TP. Roles of AMPA receptors in social behaviors. Front Synaptic Neurosci 2024; 16:1405510. [PMID: 39056071 PMCID: PMC11269240 DOI: 10.3389/fnsyn.2024.1405510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
As a crucial player in excitatory synaptic transmission, AMPA receptors (AMPARs) contribute to the formation, regulation, and expression of social behaviors. AMPAR modifications have been associated with naturalistic social behaviors, such as aggression, sociability, and social memory, but are also noted in brain diseases featuring impaired social behavior. Understanding the role of AMPARs in social behaviors is timely to reveal therapeutic targets for treating social impairment in disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. In this review, we will discuss the contribution of the molecular composition, function, and plasticity of AMPARs to social behaviors. The impact of targeting AMPARs in treating brain disorders will also be discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Wei Xu
- Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Amanda Larosa
- Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Tak Pan Wong
- Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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3
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Sinks MR, Morrison DE, Ramdev RA, Lentzou S, Spritzer MD. Cell proliferation and cell death levels in the dentate gyrus correlate with home range size among adult male meadow voles. Neuroscience 2023:S0306-4522(23)00231-2. [PMID: 37245693 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Neurogenesis occurs throughout adulthood within the dentate gyrus, and evidence indicates that these new neurons play a critical role in both spatial and social memory. However, a vast majority of past research on adult neurogenesis has involved experiments with captive mice and rats, making the generalizability of results to natural settings questionable. We assessed the connection between adult neurogenesis and memory by measuring the home range size of wild-caught, free-ranging meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus). Adult male voles (n = 18) were captured, fitted with radio collars, and released back into their natural habitat, where each vole's home range was assessed using 40 radio-telemetry fixes over the course of 5 evenings. Voles were then recaptured, and brain tissue was collected. Cellular markers of cell proliferation (pHisH3, Ki67), neurogenesis (DCX), and pyknosis were labeled on histological sections and then quantified using either fluorescent or light microscopy. Voles with larger home ranges had significantly higher pHisH3+ cell densities within the granule cell layer and subgranular zone (GCL+SGZ) of the dentate gyrus and higher Ki67+ cell densities in the dorsal GCL+SGZ. Voles with larger ranges also had significantly higher pyknotic cell densities in the entire GCL+SGZ and in the dorsal GCL+SGZ. These results support the hypothesis that cell proliferation and cell death within the hippocampus are involved with spatial memory formation. However, a marker of neurogenesis (DCX+) was not correlated with range size, suggesting that there may be selective cellular turnover in the dentate gyrus when a vole is ranging through its environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark R Sinks
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, U.S.A.
| | - Daryl E Morrison
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, U.S.A.
| | - Rajan A Ramdev
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, U.S.A.
| | - Stergiani Lentzou
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, U.S.A.
| | - Mark D Spritzer
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, U.S.A; Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, U.S.A.
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4
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Kong E, Lee KH, Do J, Kim P, Lee D. Dynamic and stable hippocampal representations of social identity and reward expectation support associative social memory in male mice. Nat Commun 2023; 14:2597. [PMID: 37147388 PMCID: PMC10163237 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38338-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Recognizing an individual and retrieving and updating the value information assigned to the individual are fundamental abilities for establishing social relationships. To understand the neural mechanisms underlying the association between social identity and reward value, we developed Go-NoGo social discrimination paradigms that required male subject mice to distinguish between familiar mice based on their individually unique characteristics and associate them with reward availability. We found that mice could discriminate individual conspecifics through a brief nose-to-nose investigation, and this ability depended on the dorsal hippocampus. Two-photon calcium imaging revealed that dorsal CA1 hippocampal neurons represented reward expectation during social, but not non-social tasks, and these activities were maintained over days regardless of the identity of the associated mouse. Furthermore, a dynamically changing subset of hippocampal CA1 neurons discriminated between individual mice with high accuracy. Our findings suggest that the neuronal activities in CA1 provide possible neural substrates for associative social memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunji Kong
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34126, Republic of Korea
- Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyu-Hee Lee
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34126, Republic of Korea
| | - Jongrok Do
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34126, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Pilhan Kim
- Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
- KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
| | - Doyun Lee
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34126, Republic of Korea.
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5
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Qin H, Fu L, Jian T, Jin W, Liang M, Li J, Chen Q, Yang X, Du H, Liao X, Zhang K, Wang R, Liang S, Yao J, Hu B, Ren S, Zhang C, Wang Y, Hu Z, Jia H, Konnerth A, Chen X. REM sleep-active hypothalamic neurons may contribute to hippocampal social-memory consolidation. Neuron 2022; 110:4000-4014.e6. [PMID: 36272414 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Revised: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
The hippocampal CA2 region plays a key role in social memory. The encoding of such memory involves afferent activity from the hypothalamic supramammillary nucleus (SuM) to CA2. However, the neuronal circuits required for consolidation of freshly encoded social memory remain unknown. Here, we used circuit-specific optical and single-cell electrophysiological recordings in mice to explore the role of sleep in social memory consolidation and its underlying circuit mechanism. We found that SuM neurons projecting to CA2 were highly active during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep but not during non-REM sleep or quiet wakefulness. REM-sleep-selective optogenetic silencing of these neurons impaired social memory. By contrast, the silencing of another group of REM sleep-active SuM neurons that projects to the dentate gyrus had no effect on social memory. Therefore, we provide causal evidence that the REM sleep-active hypothalamic neurons that project to CA2 are specifically required for the consolidation of social memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Qin
- Center for Neurointelligence, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China; Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
| | - Ling Fu
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Tingliang Jian
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Wenjun Jin
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Mengru Liang
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
| | - Jin Li
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Qianwei Chen
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Xinyu Yang
- Center for Neurointelligence, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
| | - Haoran Du
- Center for Neurointelligence, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
| | - Xiang Liao
- Center for Neurointelligence, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
| | - Kuan Zhang
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Rui Wang
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Shanshan Liang
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Jiwei Yao
- Center for Neurointelligence, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
| | - Bo Hu
- Institute of Brain and Intelligence, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Shuancheng Ren
- Institute of Brain and Intelligence, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Chunqing Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Intelligence, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Yanjiang Wang
- Institute of Brain and Intelligence, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Zhian Hu
- Institute of Brain and Intelligence, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
| | - Hongbo Jia
- Advanced Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; Institute of Neuroscience and the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Technical University of Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany; Brain Research Instrument Innovation Center, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, China; Combinatorial NeuroImaging Core Facility, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Arthur Konnerth
- Advanced Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; Institute of Neuroscience and the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Technical University of Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany
| | - Xiaowei Chen
- Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; Chongqing Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Guangyang Bay Laboratory, Chongqing 400064, China.
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6
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Liu Y, Pan Y, Curtis TJ, Wang Z. Amphetamine exposure alters behaviors, and neuronal and neurochemical activation in the brain of female prairie voles. Neuroscience 2022; 498:73-84. [PMID: 35798262 PMCID: PMC9420825 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.06.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that 3-day d-amphetamine (AMPH) treatment effectively induced conditioned place preferences (CPP) and impaired pair bonding behaviors in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Using this established animal model and treatment regimen, we examined the effects of the demonstrated threshold rewarding dose of AMPH on various behaviors and their potential underlying neurochemical systems in the brain of female prairie voles. Our data show that 3-day AMPH injections (0.2 mg/kg/day) impaired social recognition and decreased depressive-like behavior in females without affecting their locomotion and anxiety-like behaviors. AMPH treatment also decreased neuronal activation indicated by the labeling of the early growth response protein 1 (Egr-1) as well as the number of neurons double-labeled for Egr-1 and corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) in the brain. Further, AMPH treatment decreased the number of neurons double-labeled for Egr-1 and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) but did not affect oxytocinergic neurons in the PVN or cell proliferation and neurogenesis markers in the DG. These data not only demonstrate potential roles of the brain CRH and dopamine systems in mediating disrupted social recognition and depressive-like behaviors by AMPH in female prairie voles, but also further confirm the utility of the prairie vole model for studying interactions between psychostimulants and social behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Liu
- Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Yongliang Pan
- Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA; Key Laboratory of Vector Biology and Pathogen Control of Zhejiang Province, Huzhou Central Hospital, Huzhou University, Huzhou 313000, China
| | - Thomas J Curtis
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK 74107, USA
| | - Zuoxin Wang
- Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
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7
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Grieb ZA, Voisin DA, Terranova JI, Norvelle A, Michopoulos V, Huhman KL, Albers HE. Acute administration of fluoxetine increases social avoidance and risk assessment behaviors in a sex- and social stress-dependent manner in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2022; 214:173353. [PMID: 35150728 PMCID: PMC8915384 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2022.173353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Most studies investigating the effects of acute administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) on responses to social stress have been conducted with males. This is despite the fact that SSRIs remain the primary pharmacotherapy for social stress-related disorders for both sexes and that the prevalence of these disorders is twofold higher in women than in men. To determine whether acute treatment with the SSRI, fluoxetine, alters behavioral responses to social defeat stress in a sex- or social stress-dependent manner, male and female Syrian hamsters were subjected to one of three social defeat conditions: no defeat (placed into an empty resident aggressor (RA) cage), a single defeat by one RA for 15 min, or three consecutive defeats using different RAs for 5 min each. The day following social defeat, subjects were infused with either vehicle or fluoxetine (20 mg/kg, I.P.) 2 h prior to a 5 min social avoidance test. Overall, we found that fluoxetine increased social vigilance regardless of sex or defeat condition. We also found that fluoxetine affected social avoidance in a sex by stress intensity interaction, such that fluoxetine increased avoidance in no defeat males and in males defeated once but significantly increased avoidance in females only after three defeats. These data suggest that treatment with an SSRI could initially exacerbate the effects of social stress in both sexes. These data also emphasize the importance of including sex as a biological variable when investigating the efficacy of pharmacotherapy for stress-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary A. Grieb
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA,To whom correspondence should be addressed, , Telephone: 1-404-413-6337
| | - Dené A. Voisin
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Joseph I. Terranova
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA,Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
| | - Alisa Norvelle
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Vasiliki Michopoulos
- Yerkes National Primate Center, Atlanta, GA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
| | - Kim L. Huhman
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
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8
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Chai AP, Chen XF, Xu XS, Zhang N, Li M, Li JN, Zhang L, Zhang D, Zhang X, Mao RR, Ding YQ, Xu L, Zhou QX. A Temporal Activity of CA1 Neurons Underlying Short-Term Memory for Social Recognition Altered in PTEN Mouse Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Cell Neurosci 2021; 15:699315. [PMID: 34335191 PMCID: PMC8319669 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.699315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Memory-guided social recognition identifies someone from previous encounters or experiences, but the mechanisms of social memory remain unclear. Here, we find that a short-term memory from experiencing a stranger mouse lasting under 30 min interval is essential for subsequent social recognition in mice, but that interval prolonged to hours by replacing the stranger mouse with a familiar littermate. Optogenetic silencing of dorsal CA1 neuronal activity during trials or inter-trial intervals disrupted short-term memory-guided social recognition, without affecting the ability of being sociable or long-term memory-guided social recognition. Postnatal knockdown or knockout of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-associated phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gene in dorsal hippocampal CA1 similarly impaired neuronal firing rate in vitro and altered firing pattern during social recognition. These PTEN mice showed deficits in social recognition with stranger mouse rather than littermate and exhibited impairment in T-maze spontaneous alternation task for testing short-term spatial memory. Thus, we suggest that a temporal activity of dorsal CA1 neurons may underlie formation of short-term memory to be critical for organizing subsequent social recognition but that is possibly disrupted in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- An-Ping Chai
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
- The Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xue-Feng Chen
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
- School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Xiao-Shan Xu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
| | - Na Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei, China
| | - Meng Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
| | - Jin-Nan Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
| | - Lei Zhang
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Dai Zhang
- Institute of Mental Health, The Sixth Hospital of Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Xia Zhang
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Mental Health Research at the Royal, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health Research at the Royal, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Rong-Rong Mao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
| | - Yu-Qiang Ding
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Lin Xu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
- School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
| | - Qi-Xin Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, and Laboratory of Learning and Memory, and KIZ-SU Joint Laboratory of Animal Model and Drug Development, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
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9
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Different cholinergic cell groups in the basal forebrain regulate social interaction and social recognition memory. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13589. [PMID: 34193944 PMCID: PMC8245640 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93045-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Social behaviour is a complex construct that is reported to include several components of social approach, interaction and recognition memory. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is mainly characterized by progressive dementia and is accompanied by cognitive impairments, including a decline in social ability. The cholinergic system is a potential constituent for the neural mechanisms underlying social behaviour, and impaired social ability in AD may have a cholinergic basis. However, the involvement of cholinergic function in social behaviour has not yet been fully understood. Here, we performed a selective elimination of cholinergic cell groups in the basal forebrain in mice to examine the role of cholinergic function in social interaction and social recognition memory by using the three-chamber test. Elimination of cholinergic neurons in the medial septum (MS) and vertical diagonal band of Broca (vDB) caused impairment in social interaction, whereas ablating cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) impaired social recognition memory. These impairments were restored by treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors, leading to cholinergic system activation. Our findings indicate distinct roles of MS/vDB and NBM cholinergic neurons in social interaction and social recognition memory, suggesting that cholinergic dysfunction may explain social ability deficits associated with AD symptoms.
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10
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Hippocampal Lnx1-NMDAR multiprotein complex mediates initial social memory. Mol Psychiatry 2021; 26:3956-3969. [PMID: 31772302 PMCID: PMC8550978 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0606-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Revised: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Social interaction and communication are evolutionary conserved behaviours that are developed in mammals to establish partner cognition. Deficit in sociability has been represented in human patients and animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders, which are connected with genetic variants of synaptic glutamate receptors and associated PDZ-binding proteins. However, it remains elusive how these key proteins are specialized in the cellular level for the initial social behaviour during postnatal developmental stage. Here we identify a hippocampal CA3 specifically expressed PDZ scaffold protein Lnx1 required for initial social behaviour. Through gene targeting we find that Lnx1 deficiency led to a hippocampal subregional disorder in neuronal activity and social memory impairments for partner discrimination observed in juvenile mice which also show cognitive defects in adult stage. We further demonstrate that Lnx1 deletion causes NMDA receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction and this is attributable to decreased GluN2B expression in PSD compartment and disruption of the Lnx1-NMDAR-EphB2 complex. Specific restoration of Lnx1 or EphB2 protein in the CA3 area of Lnx1-/- mice rescues the defective synaptic function and social memory. These findings thus reveal crucial roles of postsynaptic NMDAR multiprotein complex that regulates the formation of initial social memory during the adolescent period.
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11
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Liu CY, Lai WS. Functional neuroanatomy and neural oscillations during social eavesdropping in male golden hamsters. Horm Behav 2021; 127:104881. [PMID: 33127368 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Social eavesdropping is a low-cost learning mechanism by which individuals extract relevant social information from social interactions between conspecifics, thereby gaining subsequent advantages in information gathering and usage. The aim of this study was to take advantage of a new hamster model of social eavesdropping to investigate behavioral consequences and neural activity in male hamsters during social eavesdropping. Bystander hamsters with a defeat experience were exposed to either a fighting interaction, a neutral encounter, or control conditions for 3 days of social eavesdropping. In Experiment 1, bystanders in the fight and neutral groups displayed more information gathering behaviors and less nonsocial behavior than control hamsters. The fight group displayed significant increases in c-Fos-positive neurons in the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) and the piriform cortex. A slight but not significant group difference was found in their serum cortisol levels. In vivo local field potential oscillation recordings in Experiment 2 revealed that bystanders in the fight group had more delta oscillations in the aMCC during information gathering across 3-day social eavesdropping than those in the other 2 groups. Experiment 3 confirmed that 20 min of social eavesdropping on Day 1 was sufficient to evoke differential behavioral outcomes, and the behavioral responses became more prominent after 3 days of social eavesdropping. Collectively, our study confirmed that male golden hamsters are capable of social eavesdropping and indicated the involvement of aMCC delta oscillations in social eavesdropping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ching-Yi Liu
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Sung Lai
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
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12
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Effects of Mating and Social Exposure on Cell Proliferation in the Adult Male Prairie Vole ( Microtus ochrogaster). Neural Plast 2020; 2020:8869669. [PMID: 33029122 PMCID: PMC7528033 DOI: 10.1155/2020/8869669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2020] [Revised: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Microtus ochrogaster is a rodent with a monogamous reproductive strategy characterized by strong pair bond formation after 6 h of mating. Here, we determine whether mating-induced pair bonding increases cell proliferation in the subventricular zone (SVZ), rostral migratory stream (RMS), and dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus in male voles. Males were assigned to one of the four groups: (1) control: males were placed alone in a clean cage; (2) social exposure to a female (SE m/f): males that could see, hear, and smell a sexually receptive female but where physical contact was not possible, because the animals were separated by an acrylic screen with small holes; (3) social exposure to a male (SE m/m): same as group 2 but males were exposed to another male without physical contact; and (4) social cohabitation with mating (SCM): males that mated freely with a receptive female for 6 h. This procedure leads to pair bond formation. Groups 2 and 3 were controls for social interaction. Male prairie voles were injected with 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) during the behavioral tests and were sacrificed 48 h later. Brains were processed to identify the new cells (BrdU-positive) and neuron precursor cells (neuroblasts). Our principal findings are that in the dorsal region of the SVZ, SCM and SE m/f and m/m increase the percentage of neuron precursor cells. In the anterior region of the RMS, SE m/f decreases the percentage of neuron precursor cells, and in the medial region SE m/f and m/m decrease the number of new cells and neuron precursor cells. In the infrapyramidal blade of the subgranular zone of the DG, SE m/m and SCM increase the number of new neuron precursor cells and SE m/m increases the percentage of these neurons. Our data suggests that social interaction, as well as sexual stimulation, leads to pair bonding in male voles modulating cell proliferation and differentiation to neuronal precursor cells at the SVZ, RMS, and DG.
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Emokpae O, Ben-Azu B, Ajayi AM, Umukoro S. D-Ribose-L-cysteine attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced memory deficits through inhibition of oxidative stress, release of proinflammatory cytokines, and nuclear factor-kappa B expression in mice. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 2020; 393:909-925. [PMID: 31907583 DOI: 10.1007/s00210-019-01805-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
D-Ribose-L-cysteine (DRLC), an analog of cysteine that boosts glutathione (GSH) content, has been reported to mitigate oxidative stress-mediated diseases. This study seeks to evaluate the effects of DRLC on memory deficits and the biochemical and histo-morphological changes induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mice. Male Swiss mice (n = 10) were pre-treated orally with three doses of DRLC (25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg, and 100 mg/kg), donepezil (1 mg/kg), or vehicle (saline) for 30 min prior to the intraperitoneal injection of LPS (0.25 mg/kg) daily for 7 days. Memory functions were evaluated using the Y-maze, object recognition, and social recognition tests. The specific brain regions (prefrontal cortex and hippocampus) were evaluated to determine oxidative stress biomarkers (malondialdehyde, GSH, and catalase), acetyl-cholinesterase activity, proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6), expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and neuronal cell morphology. DRLC (25-100 mg/kg) reversed the memory deficits in the LPS-treated mice (p < 0.05). The increased oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines in the brain regions of the LPS-treated mice were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced by DRLC. DRLC (50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg) also reduced acetyl-cholinesterase activity and decreased NF-κB expression in the brains of LPS-treated mice. Finally, it attenuated the cytoarchitectural distortions and loss of neuronal cells of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus that were induced by LPS in mice. The results of this study suggest that DRLC attenuates memory deficit induced by LPS in mice through mechanisms related to the inhibition of oxidative stress, release of proinflammatory cytokines, and expression of NF-κB in mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osagie Emokpae
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Neuropharmacology Unit, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
| | - Benneth Ben-Azu
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Neuropharmacology Unit, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.,Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, River States, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
| | - Abayomi M Ajayi
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Neuropharmacology Unit, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
| | - Solomon Umukoro
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Neuropharmacology Unit, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
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Kornhuber J, Huber SE, Zoicas I. Effects of conditioned social fear on ethanol drinking and vice-versa in male mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2019; 236:2059-2067. [PMID: 30798401 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-019-05199-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 02/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is highly comorbid with alcohol use disorders, but the complex relationship between social fear and alcohol drinking is poorly understood due to the lack of specific animal models. OBJECTIVES We investigated whether social fear alters ethanol drinking under both stress-free and stress-inducing conditions and whether ethanol alleviates symptoms of social fear. METHODS We used the social fear conditioning (SFC) paradigm, an animal model with face and predictive validity to SAD, to induce specific social fear in male CD1 mice, i.e., without comorbid depression or anxiety-like behavior. Plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels were measured in conditioned (SFC+) and unconditioned (SFC-) mice after exposure to non-social or social stimuli. Ethanol drinking was assessed in the two-bottle free-choice paradigm (1) for 16 days under stress-free conditions and (2) for 6 h after exposure to social stimuli. The effects of ethanol drinking and social fear on anxiety-like behavior and taste preference were tested in the elevated plus-maze and sucrose and quinine preference tests. RESULTS We show that exposure to social but not non-social stimuli leads to higher plasma CORT levels in SFC+ compared with SFC- mice. We also show that social fear decreases voluntary ethanol consumption under stress-free conditions, but increases ethanol consumption after exposure to social stimuli. Ethanol drinking, on the other hand, reduces social fear without altering anxiety-like behavior, locomotor activity, and taste preference. CONCLUSIONS These results have important clinical connotations as they suggest that voluntary ethanol drinking might specifically reverse symptoms of social fear in a SAD-relevant animal model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Kornhuber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Sabine E Huber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Iulia Zoicas
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
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Rao RP, von Heimendahl M, Bahr V, Brecht M. Neuronal Responses to Conspecifics in the Ventral CA1. Cell Rep 2019; 27:3460-3472.e3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 05/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
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Doi K, Nakamaru M. The coevolution of transitive inference and memory capacity in the hawk-dove game. J Theor Biol 2018; 456:91-107. [PMID: 30077734 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2017] [Revised: 07/31/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Transitive inference (TI) that uses known relationships to deduce unknown ones (using A > B and B > C to infer A > C given no direct interactions between A and C) to assess the opponent's strength, or resource-holding potential (RHP), is widely reported in animals living in a group. This sounds counter-intuitive because TI seems to require social cognition and larger memory capacity than other inference that does not require social cognition as much as TI; individuals need abilities to identify others, observe contests among others and keep the results in memory. We examine the coevolution of memory and transitive inference by the evolutionary simulations, using the asymmetric hawk-dove game. When a cost for losers is higher than a reward for winners, we found that the immediate inference strategy (II), which estimates the opponent's strength based on the past history of the direct fights, evolves with the large memory capacity, while the TI strategy, which estimates the unknown opponent's strength by transitive inference, evolves with the limited memory capacity. When a cost for losers is slightly higher than a reward for winners, the II strategy with the large memory capacity has an evolutionary advantage over the TI strategy with the limited memory capacity. It is because the direct fights are not so costly that more information about the fights leads to more accurate estimation of the opponent's strength and results in the accurate rank of the RHPs. When a cost for losers is much higher than a reward for winners, the TI strategy with the limited memory capacity has an evolutionary advantage. It is because a good way to avoid the costly fights is the prompt formation of the dominance hierarchy which does not necessarily reflect the actual rank of the RHPs; the TI strategy builds the dominance hierarchy much faster than the II strategy regardless of memory capacity, and the large amounts of information are not required for the TI strategy to form the dominance hierarchy promptly. Our study suggests that even smaller memory capacity is evolutionarily favored in TI. The TI strategy tends to reinforce the hierarchy once it is built, regardless of whether it is consistent with RHP or not, because results of direct fights are always counted. Smaller memory capacity allows players to adjust the hierarchy well if it does not represent RHP. These results prove that TI can evolve without a requirement for large memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuto Doi
- Department of Innovation Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, CIC-901S, 3-3-6 Shibaura, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108-0023, Japan.
| | - Mayuko Nakamaru
- Department of Innovation Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, CIC-901S, 3-3-6 Shibaura, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108-0023, Japan.
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Fernández-Vargas M. Presence of a potential competitor and its individual identity modulate ultrasonic vocalizations in male hamsters. Anim Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.08.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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18
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Kirlic N, Young J, Aupperle RL. Animal to human translational paradigms relevant for approach avoidance conflict decision making. Behav Res Ther 2017; 96:14-29. [PMID: 28495358 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2017.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2016] [Revised: 04/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Avoidance behavior in clinical anxiety disorders is often a decision made in response to approach-avoidance conflict, resulting in a sacrifice of potential rewards to avoid potential negative affective consequences. Animal research has a long history of relying on paradigms related to approach-avoidance conflict to model anxiety-relevant behavior. This approach includes punishment-based conflict, exploratory, and social interaction tasks. There has been a recent surge of interest in the translation of paradigms from animal to human, in efforts to increase generalization of findings and support the development of more effective mental health treatments. This article briefly reviews animal tests related to approach-avoidance conflict and results from lesion and pharmacologic studies utilizing these tests. We then provide a description of translational human paradigms that have been developed to tap into related constructs, summarizing behavioral and neuroimaging findings. Similarities and differences in findings from analogous animal and human paradigms are discussed. Lastly, we highlight opportunities for future research and paradigm development that will support the clinical utility of this translational work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Namik Kirlic
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK 74136, United States.
| | - Jared Young
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States; VA San Diego Healthcare System, 3350 La Jolla Village Dr, San Diego, CA 92161, United States.
| | - Robin L Aupperle
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK 74136, United States; School of Community Medicine, University of Tulsa, 800 S Tucker Dr, Tulsa, OK 74104, United States.
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Functional Connectivity of Multiple Brain Regions Required for the Consolidation of Social Recognition Memory. J Neurosci 2017; 37:4103-4116. [PMID: 28292834 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3451-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 150] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2016] [Revised: 01/18/2017] [Accepted: 02/13/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Social recognition memory is an essential and basic component of social behavior that is used to discriminate familiar and novel animals/humans. Previous studies have shown the importance of several brain regions for social recognition memories; however, the mechanisms underlying the consolidation of social recognition memory at the molecular and anatomic levels remain unknown. Here, we show a brain network necessary for the generation of social recognition memory in mice. A mouse genetic study showed that cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB)-mediated transcription is required for the formation of social recognition memory. Importantly, significant inductions of the CREB target immediate-early genes c-fos and Arc were observed in the hippocampus (CA1 and CA3 regions), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and amygdala (basolateral region) when social recognition memory was generated. Pharmacological experiments using a microinfusion of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin showed that protein synthesis in these brain regions is required for the consolidation of social recognition memory. These findings suggested that social recognition memory is consolidated through the activation of CREB-mediated gene expression in the hippocampus/mPFC/ACC/amygdala. Network analyses suggested that these four brain regions show functional connectivity with other brain regions and, more importantly, that the hippocampus functions as a hub to integrate brain networks and generate social recognition memory, whereas the ACC and amygdala are important for coordinating brain activity when social interaction is initiated by connecting with other brain regions. We have found that a brain network composed of the hippocampus/mPFC/ACC/amygdala is required for the consolidation of social recognition memory.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here, we identify brain networks composed of multiple brain regions for the consolidation of social recognition memory. We found that social recognition memory is consolidated through CREB-meditated gene expression in the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and amygdala. Importantly, network analyses based on c-fos expression suggest that functional connectivity of these four brain regions with other brain regions is increased with time spent in social investigation toward the generation of brain networks to consolidate social recognition memory. Furthermore, our findings suggest that hippocampus functions as a hub to integrate brain networks and generate social recognition memory, whereas ACC and amygdala are important for coordinating brain activity when social interaction is initiated by connecting with other brain regions.
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Physical Interaction Is Required in Social Buffering Induced by a Familiar Conspecific. Sci Rep 2016; 6:39788. [PMID: 28008991 PMCID: PMC5180222 DOI: 10.1038/srep39788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2016] [Accepted: 11/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In social animals, signals released from fearless conspecifics attenuate fear responses, namely social buffering. The presence of conspecific odor can suppress the expression of freezing response of conditioned mice. The present study investigated if physical social experience is required for this social buffering effect. The mice were exposed to donors, donor bedding (collected from cages of donors), or fresh bedding as control, respectively, for 10 days (1 hour daily) in prior to fear conditioning test. The fear expression test was examined in presence of donor bedding. The results showed that only the donor group mice showed reduced freezing time than the other two groups in the fear memory test. This phenomenon indicated that physical interaction might be required for the social buffering effect.
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Mate-choice copying, social information processing, and the roles of oxytocin. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 72:232-242. [PMID: 27923732 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2016] [Revised: 11/23/2016] [Accepted: 12/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Social and sexual behaviors, including that of mate choice, are dependent on social information. Mate choice can be modified by prior and ongoing social factors and experience. The mate choice decisions of one individual can be influenced by either the actual or potential mate choice of another female or male. Such non-independent mate choice, where individuals gain social information and socially learn about and recognizes potential mates by observing the choices of another female or male, has been termed "mate-choice copying". Here we first briefly review how, why, and under what circumstances individuals engage in mate-choice copying. Secondly, we review the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mate-choice copying. In particular, we consider the roles of the nonapeptide, oxytocin, in the processing of social information and the expression of mate-choice copying.
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Müller L, Weinert D. Individual recognition of social rank and social memory performance depends on a functional circadian system. Behav Processes 2016; 132:85-93. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2016] [Revised: 09/22/2016] [Accepted: 10/11/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Garrido Zinn C, Clairis N, Silva Cavalcante LE, Furini CRG, de Carvalho Myskiw J, Izquierdo I. Major neurotransmitter systems in dorsal hippocampus and basolateral amygdala control social recognition memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:E4914-9. [PMID: 27482097 PMCID: PMC4995962 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1609883113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Social recognition memory (SRM) is crucial for reproduction, forming social groups, and species survival. Despite its importance, SRM is still relatively little studied. Here we examine the participation of the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus (CA1) and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and that of dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and histaminergic systems in both structures in the consolidation of SRM. Male Wistar rats received intra-CA1 or intra-BLA infusions of different drugs immediately after the sample phase of a social discrimination task and 24-h later were subjected to a 5-min retention test. Animals treated with the protein synthesis inhibitor, anisomycin, into either the CA1 or BLA were unable to recognize the previously exposed juvenile (familiar) during the retention test. When infused into the CA1, the β-adrenoreceptor agonist, isoproterenol, the D1/D5 dopaminergic receptor antagonist, SCH23390, and the H2 histaminergic receptor antagonist, ranitidine, also hindered the recognition of the familiar juvenile 24-h later. The latter drug effects were more intense in the CA1 than in the BLA. When infused into the BLA, the β-adrenoreceptor antagonist, timolol, the D1/D5 dopamine receptor agonist, SKF38393, and the H2 histaminergic receptor agonist, ranitidine, also hindered recognition of the familiar juvenile 24-h later. In all cases, the impairment to recognize the familiar juvenile was abolished by the coinfusion of agonist plus antagonist. Clearly, both the CA1 and BLA, probably in that order, play major roles in the consolidation of SRM, but these roles are different in each structure vis-à-vis the involvement of the β-noradrenergic, D1/D5-dopaminergic, and H2-histaminergic receptors therein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Garrido Zinn
- Memory Center, Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Nicolas Clairis
- Département de Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Lorena Evelyn Silva Cavalcante
- Memory Center, Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Cristiane Regina Guerino Furini
- Memory Center, Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Jociane de Carvalho Myskiw
- Memory Center, Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;
| | - Ivan Izquierdo
- Memory Center, Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;
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Yu WC, Liu CY, Lai WS. Repeated, Intermittent Social Defeat across the Entire Juvenile Period Resulted in Behavioral, Physiological, Hormonal, Immunological, and Neurochemical Alterations in Young Adult Male Golden Hamsters. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:110. [PMID: 27375450 PMCID: PMC4901039 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2016] [Accepted: 05/23/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The developing brain is vulnerable to social defeat during the juvenile period. As complements of human studies, animal models of social defeat provide a straightforward approach to investigating the functional and neurobiological consequences of social defeats. Taking advantage of agonist behavior and social defeat in male golden hamster, a set of 6 experiments was conducted to investigate the consequences at multiple levels in young adulthood resulting from repeated, intermittent social defeats or “social threats” across the entire juvenile period. Male hamsters at postnatal day 28 (P28) were randomly assigned to either the social defeat, “social threat”, or arena control group, and they correspondingly received a series of nine social interaction trials (i.e., either social defeat, “social threat”, or arena control conditions) from P33 to P66. At the behavioral level (Experiment 1), we found that repeated social defeats (but not “social threats”) significantly impacted locomotor activity in the familiar context and social interaction in the familiar/unfamiliar social contexts. At the physiological and hormonal levels (Experiments 2 and 3), repeated social defeat significantly enhanced the cortisol and norepinephrine concentrations in blood. Enlargement of the spleen was also found in the social defeat and “social threat” groups. At the immunological level (Experiment 4), the social defeat group showed lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the hypothalamus and hippocampus but higher concentration of IL-6 in the striatum compared to the other two groups. At the neurochemical level (Experiment 5), the socially defeated hamsters mainly displayed reductions of dopamine, dopamine metabolites, and 5-HT levels in the striatum and decreased level of 5-HT in the hippocampus. In Experiment 6, an increase in the spine density of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons was specifically observed in the “social threat” group. Collectively, our findings indicate that repeated, intermittent social defeats throughout entire adolescence in hamsters impact their adult responses at multiple levels. Our results also suggest that the “social threat” group may serve as an appropriate control. This study further suggest that the alterations of behavioral responses and neurobiological functions in the body and brain might provide potential markers to measure the negative consequences of chronic social defeats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Chun Yu
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ching-Yi Liu
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Sung Lai
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan; Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan
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Burleson CA, Pedersen RW, Seddighi S, DeBusk LE, Burghardt GM, Cooper MA. Social play in juvenile hamsters alters dendritic morphology in the medial prefrontal cortex and attenuates effects of social stress in adulthood. Behav Neurosci 2016; 130:437-47. [PMID: 27176563 DOI: 10.1037/bne0000148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Social play is a fundamental aspect of behavioral development in many species. Social play deprivation in rats alters dendritic morphology in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and we have shown that this brain region regulates responses to social defeat stress in Syrian hamsters. In this study, we tested whether play deprivation during the juvenile period disrupts dendritic morphology in the prefrontal cortex and potentiates the effects of social defeat stress. At weaning, male hamsters were either group-housed with peers or pair-housed with their mother, with whom they do not play. In adulthood, animals received acute social defeat stress or no-defeat control treatment. The hamsters were then tested for a conditioned defeat response in a social interaction test with a novel intruder, and were also tested for social avoidance of a familiar opponent. Brains were collected for Golgi-Cox staining and analysis of dendritic morphology in the infralimbic (IL), prelimbic (PL), and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Play-deprived animals showed an increased conditioned defeat response and elevated avoidance of a familiar opponent compared with play-exposed animals. Furthermore, play-deprived animals showed increased total length and branch points in apical dendrites of pyramidal neurons in the IL and PL cortices, but not in the OFC. These findings suggest that social play deprivation in juvenile hamsters disrupts neuronal development in the vmPFC and increases vulnerability to the effects of social stress in adulthood. Overall, these results suggest that social play is necessary for the natural dendritic pruning process during adolescence and promotes coping with stress in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Zoicas I, Menon R, Neumann ID. Neuropeptide S reduces fear and avoidance of con-specifics induced by social fear conditioning and social defeat, respectively. Neuropharmacology 2016; 108:284-91. [PMID: 27044664 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2016.03.054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2015] [Revised: 03/18/2016] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Neuropeptide S (NPS) has anxiolytic effects and facilitates extinction of cued fear in rodents. Here, we investigated whether NPS reverses social fear and social avoidance induced by social fear conditioning (SFC) and acute social defeat (SD), respectively, in male CD1 mice. Our results revealed that intracerebroventricular NPS (icv; 10 and 50 nmol/2 μl) reversed fear of unknown con-specifics induced by SFC and dose-dependently reduced avoidance of known aggressive con-specifics induced by SD. While 50 nmol of NPS completely reversed social avoidance and reinstated social preference, 10 nmol of NPS reduced social avoidance, but did not completely reinstate social preference in socially-defeated mice. Further, a lower dose (1 nmol/2 μl) of NPS facilitated the within-session extinction of cued fear, while a higher dose (10 nmol/2 μl) reduced the expression of cued fear. We could also confirm the anxiolytic effects of NPS (1, 10 and 50 nmol/2 μl) on the elevated plus-maze (EPM), which were not accompanied by alterations in locomotor activity either on the EPM or in the home cage. Finally, we could show that icv infusion of the NPS receptor 1 antagonist D-Cys((t)Bu)(5)-NPS (10 nmol/2 μl) did not alter SFC-induced social fear, general anxiety and locomotor activity. Taken together, our study extends the potent anxiolytic profile of NPS to a social context by demonstrating the reduction of social fear and social avoidance, thus providing the framework for studies investigating the involvement of the NPS system in the regulation of different types of social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iulia Zoicas
- Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
| | - Rohit Menon
- Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Inga D Neumann
- Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
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Spritzer MD, Curtis MG, DeLoach JP, Maher J, Shulman LM. Sexual interactions with unfamiliar females reduce hippocampal neurogenesis among adult male rats. Neuroscience 2016; 318:143-56. [PMID: 26794592 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2015] [Revised: 01/05/2016] [Accepted: 01/06/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Recent experiments have shown that sexual interactions prior to cell proliferation cause an increase in neurogenesis in adult male rats. Because adult neurogenesis is critical for some forms of memory, we hypothesized that sexually induced changes in neurogenesis may be involved in mate recognition. Sexually naive adult male rats were either exposed repeatedly to the same sexual partner (familiar group) or to a series of novel sexual partners (unfamiliar group), while control males never engaged in sexual interactions. Ovariectomized female rats were induced into estrus every four days. Males were given two injections of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) (200mg/kg) to label proliferating cells, and the first sexual interactions occurred three days later. Males in the familiar and unfamiliar groups engaged in four, 30-min sexual interactions at four-day intervals, and brain tissue was collected the day after the last sexual interaction. Immunohistochemistry followed by microscopy was used to quantify BrdU-labeled cells. Sexual interactions with unfamiliar females caused a significant reduction in neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus compared to males that interacted with familiar females and compared to the control group. The familiar group showed no difference in neurogenesis compared to the control group. Males in the familiar group engaged in significantly more sexual behavior (ejaculations and intromissions) than did males in the unfamiliar group, suggesting that level of sexual activity may influence neurogenesis levels. In a second experiment, we tested whether this effect was unique to sexual interactions by replicating the entire procedure using anestrus females. We found that interactions with unfamiliar anestrus females reduced neurogenesis relative to the other groups, but this effect was not statistically significant. In combination, these results indicate that interactions with unfamiliar females reduce adult neurogenesis and the effect is stronger for sexual interactions than for social interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- M D Spritzer
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA.
| | - M G Curtis
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA.
| | - J P DeLoach
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA.
| | - J Maher
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA.
| | - L M Shulman
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA.
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Bullmann T, Seeger G, Stieler J, Hanics J, Reimann K, Kretzschmann TP, Hilbrich I, Holzer M, Alpár A, Arendt T. Tau phosphorylation-associated spine regression does not impair hippocampal-dependent memory in hibernating golden hamsters. Hippocampus 2015; 26:301-18. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2015] [Revised: 08/12/2015] [Accepted: 08/31/2015] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Torsten Bullmann
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
- Frey Initiative Research Unit, RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center; Japan
| | - Gudrun Seeger
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
| | - Jens Stieler
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
| | - János Hanics
- MTA-SE NAP B Research Group of Experimental Neuroanatomy and Developmental Biology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Budapest Hungary
- Department of Anatomy; Semmelweis University; Budapest Hungary
| | - Katja Reimann
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
| | - Tanja Petra Kretzschmann
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
| | - Isabel Hilbrich
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
| | - Max Holzer
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
| | - Alán Alpár
- MTA-SE NAP B Research Group of Experimental Neuroanatomy and Developmental Biology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Budapest Hungary
- Department of Anatomy; Semmelweis University; Budapest Hungary
| | - Thomas Arendt
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration; Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, University of Leipzig; Leipzig Germany
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Pascalis O, Kelly DJ. The Origins of Face Processing in Humans: Phylogeny and Ontogeny. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2015; 4:200-9. [PMID: 26158945 DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01119.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Faces are crucial for nonverbal communication in humans and related species. From the first moments of life, newborn infants prefer to look at human faces over almost any other form of stimuli. Since this finding was first observed, there has been much debate regarding the "special" nature of face processing. Researchers have put forward numerous developmental models that attempt to account for this early preference and subsequent maturation of the face processing system. In this article, we review these models and their supporting evidence drawing on literature from developmental, evolutionary, and comparative psychology. We conclude that converging data from these fields strongly suggests that face processing is conducted by a dedicated and complex neural system, is not human specific, and is unlikely to have emerged recently in evolutionary history.
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Fernández-Vargas M, Johnston RE. Ultrasonic vocalizations in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) reveal modest sex differences and nonlinear signals of sexual motivation. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0116789. [PMID: 25714096 PMCID: PMC4340904 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2014] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal signaling is one of many behaviors that animals perform during social interactions. Vocalizations produced by both sexes before mating can communicate sex, identity and condition of the caller. Adult golden hamsters produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) after intersexual contact. To determine whether these vocalizations are sexually dimorphic, we analyzed the vocal repertoire for sex differences in: 1) calling rates, 2) composition (structural complexity, call types and nonlinear phenomena) and 3) acoustic structure. In addition, we examined it for individual variation in the calls. The vocal repertoire was mainly composed of 1-note simple calls and at least half of them presented some degree of deterministic chaos. The prevalence of this nonlinear phenomenon was confirmed by low values of harmonic-to-noise ratio for most calls. We found modest sexual differences between repertoires. Males were more likely than females to produce tonal and less chaotic calls, as well as call types with frequency jumps. Multivariate analysis of the acoustic features of 1-note simple calls revealed significant sex differences in the second axis represented mostly by entropy and bandwidth parameters. Male calls showed lower entropy and inter-quartile bandwidth than female calls. Because the variation of acoustic structure within individuals was higher than among individuals, USV could not be reliably assigned to the correct individual. Interestingly, however, this high variability, augmented by the prevalence of chaos and frequency jumps, could be the result of increased vocal effort. Hamsters motivated to produce high calling rates also produced longer calls of broader bandwidth. Thus, the sex differences found could be the result of different sex preferences but also of a sex difference in calling motivation or condition. We suggest that variable and complex USV may have been selected to increase responsiveness of a potential mate by communicating sexual arousal and preventing habituation to the caller.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert E. Johnston
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States of America
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31
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Lukas M, de Jong TR. Conspecific Interactions in Adult Laboratory Rodents: Friends or Foes? Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2015; 30:3-24. [PMID: 27240675 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2015_428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Interactions between adult conspecifics, including sexual behaviors, affiliation, and aggression are crucial for the well-being, survival, and reproduction of mammals. This holds true for any mammalian species, but certainly for humans: An inability to optimally navigate the social system can have a strong negative impact on physical and mental health. Translational rodent models have been used for decades to unravel the neural pathways and substrates involved in normal and abnormal conspecific interactions. Researchers in the field of translational social neuroscience face a double challenge: Not only do they need to pay considerable attention to the behavioral ecology of their model species or their ancestors, they also have to expect a relatively large variability in behavior and adjust their experimental design accordingly. In this chapter, we will lay out traditional and novel rodent models and paradigms to study sexual, affiliative, and aggressive interactions among adult conspecifics. We will discuss the merits and main findings and briefly consider the most promising novel directions. Finally, we review the modulatory involvement of two major players in mammal social interaction: the central oxytocin and vasopressin system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Lukas
- Molecular and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Trynke R de Jong
- Molecular and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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32
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Activation of 5-HT2a receptors in the basolateral amygdala promotes defeat-induced anxiety and the acquisition of conditioned defeat in Syrian hamsters. Neuropharmacology 2014; 90:102-12. [PMID: 25458113 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2014.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2014] [Revised: 11/11/2014] [Accepted: 11/22/2014] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Conditioned defeat is a model in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) in which normal territorial aggression is replaced by increased submissive and defensive behavior following acute social defeat. The conditioned defeat response involves both a fear-related memory for a specific opponent as well as anxiety-like behavior indicated by avoidance of novel conspecifics. We have previously shown that systemic injection of a 5-HT2a receptor antagonist reduces the acquisition of conditioned defeat. Because neural activity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical for the acquisition of conditioned defeat and BLA 5-HT2a receptors can modulate anxiety but have a limited effect on emotional memories, we investigated whether 5-HT2a receptor modulation alters defeat-induced anxiety but not defeat-related memories. We injected the 5-HT2a receptor antagonist MDL 11,939 (0 mM, 1.7 mM or 17 mM) or the 5-HT2a receptor agonist TCB-2 (0 mM, 8 mM or 80 mM) into the BLA prior to social defeat. We found that injection of MDL 11,939 into the BLA impaired acquisition of the conditioned defeat response and blocked defeat-induced anxiety in the open field, but did not significantly impair avoidance of former opponents in the Y-maze. Furthermore, we found that injection of TCB-2 into the BLA increased the acquisition of conditioned defeat and increased anxiety-like behavior in the open field, but did not alter avoidance of former opponents. Our data suggest that 5-HT2a receptor signaling in the BLA is both necessary and sufficient for the development of conditioned defeat, likely via modulation of defeat-induced anxiety.
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33
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Boschen KE, Hamilton GF, Delorme JE, Klintsova AY. Activity and social behavior in a complex environment in rats neonatally exposed to alcohol. Alcohol 2014; 48:533-41. [PMID: 25150044 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2014.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Environmental complexity (EC) is a powerful, stimulating paradigm that engages animals through a variety of sensory and motor pathways. Exposure to EC (30 days) following 12 days of wheel running preserves hippocampal neuroplasticity in male rats neonatally exposed to alcohol during the third-trimester equivalent (binge-like exposure on postnatal days [PD] 4-9). The current experiment investigates the importance of various components of EC (physical activity, exploration, social interaction, novelty) and examines whether neonatal alcohol exposure affects how male rats interact with their environment and other male rats. Male pups were assigned to 1 of 3 neonatal conditions from PD 4-9: suckle control (SC), sham-intubated (SI), or alcohol-exposed (AE, 5.25 g/kg/day). From PD 30-42 animals were housed with 24-h access to a voluntary running wheel. The animals were then placed in EC from PD 42-72 (9 animals/cage, counterbalanced by neonatal condition). During EC, the animals were filmed for five 30-min sessions (PD 42, 48, 56, 64, 68). For the first experiment, the videos were coded for distance traveled in the cage, overall locomotor activity, time spent near other animals, and interaction with toys. For the second experiment, the videos were analyzed for wrestling, mounting, boxing, grooming, sniffing, and crawling over/under. AE animals were found to be less active and exploratory and engaged in fewer mounting behaviors compared to control animals. Results suggest that after exposure to wheel running, AE animals still have deficits in activity and social behaviors while housed in EC compared to control animals with the same experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Boschen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Gillian F Hamilton
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - James E Delorme
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Anna Y Klintsova
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
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34
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Bastida CC, Puga F, Gonzalez-Lima F, Jennings KJ, Wommack JC, Delville Y. Chronic social stress in puberty alters appetitive male sexual behavior and neural metabolic activity. Horm Behav 2014; 66:220-7. [PMID: 24852486 PMCID: PMC4127097 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2014] [Revised: 05/05/2014] [Accepted: 05/12/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Repeated social subjugation in early puberty lowers testosterone levels. We used hamsters to investigate the effects of social subjugation on male sexual behavior and metabolic activity within neural systems controlling social and motivational behaviors. Subjugated animals were exposed daily to aggressive adult males in early puberty for postnatal days 28 to 42, while control animals were placed in empty clean cages. On postnatal day 45, they were tested for male sexual behavior in the presence of receptive female. Alternatively, they were tested for mate choice after placement at the base of a Y-maze containing a sexually receptive female in one tip of the maze and an ovariectomized one on the other. Social subjugation did not affect the capacity to mate with receptive females. Although control animals were fast to approach females and preferred ovariectomized individuals, subjugated animals stayed away from them and showed no preference. Cytochrome oxidase activity was reduced within the preoptic area and ventral tegmental area in subjugated hamsters. In addition, the correlation of metabolic activity of these areas with the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and anterior parietal cortex changed significantly from positive in controls to negative in subjugated animals. These data show that at mid-puberty, while male hamsters are capable of mating, their appetitive sexual behavior is not fully mature and this aspect of male sexual behavior is responsive to social subjugation. Furthermore, metabolic activity and coordination of activity in brain areas related to sexual behavior and motivation were altered by social subjugation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christel C Bastida
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
| | - Frank Puga
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Francisco Gonzalez-Lima
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Kimberly J Jennings
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Joel C Wommack
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Yvon Delville
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
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Bader LR, Carboni JD, Burleson CA, Cooper MA. 5-HT1A receptor activation reduces fear-related behavior following social defeat in Syrian hamsters. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2014; 122:182-90. [PMID: 24726709 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2014.03.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2013] [Revised: 03/03/2014] [Accepted: 03/30/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Social defeat leads to selective avoidance of familiar opponents as well as general avoidance of novel, non-threatening intruders. Avoidance of familiar opponents represents a fear-related memory whereas generalized social avoidance indicates anxiety-like behavior. We have previously shown that serotonin signaling alters responses to social defeat in Syrian hamsters, although it is unclear whether serotonin modulates defeat-induced fear, anxiety, or both. In this study we focus on 5-HT1A receptors, in part, because their activation had been linked to the acquisition of conditioned fear. We hypothesized that pharmacological activation of 5-HT1A receptors prior to social defeat would reduce avoidance of familiar opponents and impair Arc expression in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), but not alter anxiety-like behavior. We administered 8-OH-DPAT, a 5-HT1A receptor agonist, prior to 3, 5-minute social defeats and 24h later exposed hamsters to a social interaction test to measure the conditioned defeat response immediately followed by either a Y-maze test or an open field test. In a separate experiment, we administered 8-OH-DPAT prior to 3, 5-minute social defeats and later removed the brains for Arc immunohistochemistry. Social defeat increased the number of Arc immunopositive cells in the central amygdala (CeA), prelimbic cortex (PL), and BLA, and 8-OH-DPAT treatment reduced Arc immunoreactivity in the PL. These results suggest that 5-HT1A receptor activation impairs the fear memory associated with social defeat, but does not alter defeat-induced anxiety. Overall, 5-HT1A receptor activation may impair Arc expression in select brain regions such as the PL and thereby disrupt the development of a fear memory essential for the conditioned defeat response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren R Bader
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
| | - Joseph D Carboni
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Cody A Burleson
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Matthew A Cooper
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
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Lai WS, Yu WC, Liu CY, Kuo MT, Huang CH. A new method for studying social eavesdropping using male golden hamsters. Physiol Behav 2014; 128:202-11. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.01.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2013] [Revised: 12/03/2013] [Accepted: 01/26/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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A low-cost automated apparatus for investigating the effects of social defeat in Syrian hamsters. Behav Res Methods 2014; 46:1013-22. [PMID: 24519494 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-013-0427-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We describe an automated apparatus that can be used to investigate the effects of defeat in hamsters. It consists of a covered alleyway that leads to a box, or arena, where hamsters can be kept separate or allowed to fight. The alleyway is divided into seven equal-sized chambers. Low-power lasers and laser detectors are used to keep track of a hamster's position in the alleyway. A CFL flood lamp placed over the chamber farthest from the arena generates a light gradient in the alleyway that engenders in the subjects a preference for the darker chambers near the arena. A computer automatically records the interruption of the laser beams and yields three measures: average position, the frequency of visits to each chamber, and the frequency of changes in direction of travel in each chamber. The results of a pilot study indicated that when a dominant hamster was placed behind a screened gate in the arena and a subordinate hamster was placed in the alleyway, the subordinate maintained a significantly greater distance from the dominant than did a nondefeated hamster. The subordinate hamster also changed its direction of travel more frequently than did the nondefeated hamster. The results suggest that conditioned fear was elicited in the defeated hamster by proximity to the dominant hamster, an effect that is consistent with published results in which the data were recorded manually or by using commercially available event-tracking software.
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38
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Toth I, Neumann ID. Animal models of social avoidance and social fear. Cell Tissue Res 2013; 354:107-18. [DOI: 10.1007/s00441-013-1636-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 175] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2013] [Accepted: 04/12/2013] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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39
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Vlautin CT, Ferkin MH. The Outcome of a Previous Social Interaction with a Same-sex Conspecific Affects the Behavior of Meadow Voles,Microtus pennsylvanicus. Ethology 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael H. Ferkin
- Department of Biological Sciences; The University of Memphis; Memphis; TN; USA
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40
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Abstract
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a major health concern with high lifetime prevalence. The current medication is rather unspecific and, despite considerable efforts, its efficacy is still unsatisfactory. However, there are no appropriate and specific animal models available to study the underlying etiology of the disorder. Therefore, we aimed to establish a model of specific social fear in mice and use this social fear conditioning (SFC) model to assess the therapeutic efficacy of the benzodiazepine diazepam and of the antidepressant paroxetine; treatments currently used for SAD patients. We show that by administering electric foot shocks (2-5, 1 s, 0.7 mA) during the investigation of a con-specific, the investigation of unfamiliar con-specifics was reduced for both the short- and long-term, indicating lasting social fear. The induced fear was specific to social stimuli and did not lead to other behavioral alterations, such as fear of novelty, general anxiety, depression, and impaired locomotion. We show that social fear was dose-dependently reversed by acute diazepam, at doses that were not anxiolytic in a non-social context, such as the elevated plus maze. Finally, we show that chronic paroxetine treatment reversed social fear. All in all, we demonstrated robust social fear after exposure to SFC in mice, which was reversed with both acute benzodiazepine and chronic antidepressant treatment. We propose the SFC model as an appropriate animal model to identify the underlying etiology of SAD and possible novel treatment approaches.
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41
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Choleris E, Clipperton-Allen AE, Phan A, Valsecchi P, Kavaliers M. Estrogenic involvement in social learning, social recognition and pathogen avoidance. Front Neuroendocrinol 2012; 33:140-59. [PMID: 22369749 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2012.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2011] [Revised: 02/13/2012] [Accepted: 02/14/2012] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Sociality comes with specific cognitive skills that allow the proper processing of information about others (social recognition), as well as of information originating from others (social learning). Because sociality and social interactions can also facilitate the spread of infection among individuals the ability to recognize and avoid pathogen threat is also essential. We review here various studies primarily from the rodent literature supporting estrogenic involvement in the regulation of social recognition, social learning (socially acquired food preferences and mate choice copying) and the recognition and avoidance of infected and potentially infected individuals. We consider both genomic and rapid estrogenic effects involving estrogen receptors α and β, and G-protein coupled estrogen receptor 1, along with their interactions with neuropeptide systems in the processing of social stimuli and the regulation and expression of these various socially relevant behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Choleris
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
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42
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Arendt DH, Smith JP, Bastida CC, Prasad MS, Oliver KD, Eyster KM, Summers TR, Delville Y, Summers CH. Contrasting hippocampal and amygdalar expression of genes related to neural plasticity during escape from social aggression. Physiol Behav 2012; 107:670-9. [PMID: 22450262 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2011] [Revised: 03/01/2012] [Accepted: 03/05/2012] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Social subjugation has widespread consequences affecting behavior and underlying neural systems. We hypothesized that individual differences in stress responsiveness were associated with differential expression of neurotrophin associated genes within the hippocampus and amygdala. To do this we examined the brains of hamsters placed in resident/intruder interactions, modified by the opportunity to escape from aggression. In the amygdala, aggressive social interaction stimulated increased BDNF receptor TrK(B) mRNA levels regardless of the ability to escape the aggressor. In contrast, the availability of escape limited the elevation of GluR(1) AMPA subunit mRNA. In the hippocampal CA(1), the glucocorticoid stress hormone, cortisol, was negatively correlated with BDNF and TrK(B) gene expression, but showed a positive correlation with BDNF expression in the DG. Latency to escape the aggressor was also negatively correlated with CA(1) BDNF expression. In contrast, the relationship between amygdalar TrK(B) and GluR(1) was positive with respect to escape latency. These results suggest that an interplay of stress and neurotrophic systems influences learned escape behavior. Animals which escape faster seem to have a more robust neurotrophic profile in the hippocampus, with the opposite of this pattern in the amygdala. We propose that changes in the equilibrium of hippocampal and amygdalar learning result in differing behavioral stress coping choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- David H Arendt
- Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA
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von Heimendahl M, Rao RP, Brecht M. Weak and nondiscriminative responses to conspecifics in the rat hippocampus. J Neurosci 2012; 32:2129-41. [PMID: 22323725 PMCID: PMC6621688 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3812-11.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2011] [Revised: 11/23/2011] [Accepted: 12/04/2011] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Little is known about how hippocampal neurons in rodents respond to and represent conspecifics. To address this question, we let rats interact while quantifying hippocampal neuronal activation patterns with extracellular recordings and immediate-early gene (c-Fos) expression. A total of 319 single putative pyramidal neurons was recorded in dorsal hippocampus. In sessions with multiple stimulus rats, no cell responded differentially to individual rats (N = 267 cells). We did find, however, that the presence of other rats induced a significant enhancement or suppression of firing in a fraction of neurons (n = 22 of 319; 7%). As expected, a large fraction of neurons (n = 170; 53%) had place fields. There was no evidence for place-independent responses to rats. Rather, the modulations were linked to the spatial responses. While neurons did not discriminate between individual rats, they did discriminate between rats and inanimate objects. Surprisingly, neuronal responses were more strongly modulated by objects than by rats, even though subjects spent more time near their conspecifics. Consistent with the low fraction of rat-modulated cells, social encounters did not induce c-Fos expression in the hippocampus, while there was a social interaction-specific expression in the basolateral amygdala. In both interacting and non-interacting rats, the fraction of c-Fos-expressing cells in the hippocampus was very low. Our investigation of social coding in the rat hippocampus, along with other recent work, showed that social responses were rare and lacked individual specificity, altogether speaking against a role of rodent dorsal hippocampus in social memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moritz von Heimendahl
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Rajnish P. Rao
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Brecht
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany
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Brecht M, Freiwald WA. The many facets of facial interactions in mammals. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2011; 22:259-66. [PMID: 22209040 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2011] [Revised: 11/27/2011] [Accepted: 12/04/2011] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Facial interactions are prominent behaviors in primates. Primate facial signaling, which includes the expression of emotions, mimicking of facial movements, and gaze interactions, is visually dominated. Correspondingly, in primate brains an elaborate network of face processing areas exists within visual cortex. But other mammals also communicate through facial interactions using additional sensory modalities. In rodents, multisensory facial interactions are involved in aggressive behaviors and social transmission of food preferences. The eusocial naked mole-rat, whose face is dominated by prominent incisors, uses facial aggression to enforce reproductive suppression. In burrow-living mammals like the naked mole-rat in particular, and in rodents in general, somatosensory face representations in cortex are enlarged. Diversity of sensory domains mediating facial communication might belie underlying common mechanisms. As a case in point, neurogenetics has revealed strongly heritable traits in face processing and identified gene defects that disrupt facial interactions both in humans and rodents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Brecht
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Humboldt University, 10115 Berlin, Philippstr. 13 Haus 6, Germany.
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Lukas M, Toth I, Reber SO, Slattery DA, Veenema AH, Neumann ID. The neuropeptide oxytocin facilitates pro-social behavior and prevents social avoidance in rats and mice. Neuropsychopharmacology 2011; 36:2159-68. [PMID: 21677650 PMCID: PMC3176581 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2011.95] [Citation(s) in RCA: 307] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Social avoidance and social phobia are core symptoms of various psychopathologies but their underlying etiology remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study aims to reveal pro-social effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), under both basal and stress-induced social avoidance conditions in rodents using a social preference paradigm. We initially show that intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) application of an OT receptor antagonist (OTR-A) in naïve male rats (0.75 μg/5 μl), or mice (20 μg/2 μl), reduced social exploration of a novel con-specific indicative of attenuated social preference. Previous exposure of male rats to a single social defeat resulted in loss of their social preference and social avoidance, which could be restored by i.c.v. infusion of synthetic OT (0.1 μg/5 μl) 20 min before the social preference test. Although the amygdala has been implicated in both social and OT-mediated actions, bilateral OTR-A (0.1 μg/1 μl) or OT (0.01 μg/1 μl) administration into various subnuclei of the amygdala did not affect basal or stress-induced social preference behavior, respectively. Finally, we demonstrate the social specificity of these OT-mediated effects by showing that neither an arginine vasopressin V1a receptor antagonist (0.75 μg/5 μl, i.c.v.) nor the anxiogenic drug pentylenetetrazol (15 mg/kg, i.p.) altered social preference, with OTR-A not affecting non-social anxiety on the elevated plus-maze. Overall, the data indicate that the basal activity of the endogenous brain OT system is sufficient to promote natural occurring social preference in rodents while synthetic OT shows potential to reverse stress-induced social avoidance and might thus be of use for treating social phobia and social dysfunction in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Lukas
- Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Iulia Toth
- Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Stefan O Reber
- Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - David A Slattery
- Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Alexa H Veenema
- Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Inga D Neumann
- Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany,Universitaetsstrasse 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany, Tel: +49 941 943 3053, Fax: +49 941 943 3052, E-mail:
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McCann KE, Huhman KL. The effect of escapable versus inescapable social defeat on conditioned defeat and social recognition in Syrian hamsters. Physiol Behav 2011; 105:493-7. [PMID: 21945371 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2011] [Revised: 09/05/2011] [Accepted: 09/07/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Male Syrian hamsters are naturally aggressive animals that reliably defend their home territory against intruding conspecifics. Hamsters that lose agonistic encounters subsequently exhibit a striking change in their agonistic behavior, however, expressing no aggression and instead becoming highly submissive, a behavioral change that we have termed conditioned defeat. We have generally employed an inescapable defeat training protocol when studying conditioned defeat. The purpose of the present study was to determine if conditioned defeat is an epiphenomenon of the inescapable defeat experience by comparing the behavior of hamsters exposed to inescapable versus escapable defeat. In the conditioned defeat model, defeated hamsters subsequently generalize their submission and social avoidance to a novel, non-aggressive opponent, suggesting that hamsters subjected to inescapable defeat may not form a specific memory of their aggressive opponent. Thus, a secondary purpose of the present study was to determine whether hamsters subjected to our defeat protocol have the ability to recognize a familiar opponent following defeat. Our results provide evidence that conditioned defeat is not solely a by-product of inescapable defeat because all experimental animals, regardless of the type of defeat, expressed conditioned defeat during testing. We also found that animals experiencing an inescapable defeat avoided a familiar aggressor significantly more than they did an unfamiliar aggressor, demonstrating that these animals have the ability to recognize their previous attacker. Thus, we maintain that a variety of social defeat models, and conditioned defeat in particular, represent generalizable and ethologically valid models with which to study the effects of social stress on physiology and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharine E McCann
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, 161 Jessie Hill Junior Drive, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA.
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Heron-Delaney M, Wirth S, Pascalis O. Infants' knowledge of their own species. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2011; 366:1753-63. [PMID: 21536558 PMCID: PMC3130380 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Recognition of individuals at first sight is important for social species and can be achieved by attending to facial or body information. Previous research suggests that infants possess a perceptual template for evolutionarily relevant stimuli, which may include humans, dangerous animals (e.g. snakes), but not non-dangerous animals. To be effective, such a mechanism should result in a systematic preference for attending to humans over non-dangerous animals. Using a preferential looking paradigm, the present studies investigated the nature of infants' early representation of humans. We show that 3.5- and six-month-old infants attend more to human beings than non-human primates (a gorilla or monkey) which are examplars of non-dangerous animals. This occurred when infants were presented with head or body information in isolation, as well as when both are presented simultaneously. This early preference for humans by 3.5 months of age suggests that there is a basic representation for humans, which includes both head and/or body information. However, neonates demonstrated a preference only for human faces over non-human primate faces, not for humans over non-human primates when the stimuli were presented with both head and body simultaneously. The results show that although neonates display a preference for human faces over others, preference for the human body only develops later, in the first few months of life. This suggests that infants have acquired some knowledge about the human body at 3.5 months of age that may have developed from their privileged experience with other humans in the first few months of life, rather than an innate ability to detect humans in their entirety.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sylvia Wirth
- Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, UMR5229, CNRS, 67 boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron Cedex, France
| | - Olivier Pascalis
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Pierre Mendès-France, Grenoble, France
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Lambert KG, Franssen CL, Bardi M, Hampton JE, Hainley L, Karsner S, Tu EB, Hyer MM, Crockett A, Baranova A, Ferguson T, Ferguson T, Kinsley CH. Characteristic neurobiological patterns differentiate paternal responsiveness in two Peromyscus species. BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2011; 77:159-75. [PMID: 21546770 DOI: 10.1159/000326054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2010] [Accepted: 02/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Rodent paternal models provide unique opportunities to investigate the emergence of affiliative social behavior in mammals. Using biparental and uniparental Peromyscus species (californicus and maniculatus, respectively) we assessed paternal responsiveness by exposing males to biological offspring, unrelated conspecific pups, or familiar brothers following a 24-hour separation. The putative paternal circuit we investigated included brain areas involved in fear/anxiety [cingulate cortex (Cg), medial amygdala (MeA), paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), and lateral septum (LS)], parental motivation [medial preoptic area (MPOA)], learning/behavioral plasticity (hippocampus), olfaction [pyriform cortex (PC)], and social rewards (nucleus accumbens). Paternal experience in californicus males reduced fos immunoreactivity (ir) in several fear/anxiety areas; additionally, all californicus groups exhibited decreased fos-ir in the PC. Enhanced arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT)-ir cell bodies and fibers, as well as increased neuronal restructuring in the hippocampus, were also observed in californicus mice. Multidimensional scaling analyses revealed distinct brain activation profiles differentiating californicus biological fathers, pup-exposed virgins, and pup-naïve virgins. Specifically, associations among MPOA fos, CA1 fos, dentate gyrus GFAP, CA2 nestin-, and PVN OT-ir characterized biological fathers; LS fos-, Cg fos-, and AVP-ir characterized pup-exposed virgins, and PC-, PVN-, and MeA fos-ir characterized pup-naïve virgins. Thus, whereas fear/anxiety areas characterized pup-naïve males, neurobiological factors involved in more diverse functions such as learning, motivation, and nurturing responses characterized fatherhood in biparental californicus mice. Less distinct paternal-dependent activation patterns were observed in uniparental maniculatus mice. These data suggest that dual neurobiological circuits, leading to the inhibition of social-dependent anxiety as well as the activation of affiliative responses, characterize the transition from nonpaternal to paternal status in californicus mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly G Lambert
- Department of Psychology, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va., USA.
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Been LE, Petrulis A. Chemosensory and hormone information are relayed directly between the medial amygdala, posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and medial preoptic area in male Syrian hamsters. Horm Behav 2011; 59:536-48. [PMID: 21316366 PMCID: PMC3081384 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2010] [Revised: 02/02/2011] [Accepted: 02/03/2011] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
In many rodent species, including Syrian hamsters, the expression of appropriate social behavior depends critically on the perception and identification of conspecific odors. The behavioral response to these odors is mediated by a network of steroid-sensitive ventral forebrain nuclei including the medial amygdala (Me), posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), and medial preoptic area (MPOA). Although it is well-known that Me, BNST, and MPOA are densely interconnected and each uniquely modulates odor-guided social behaviors, the degree to which conspecific odor information and steroid hormone cues are directly relayed between these nuclei is unknown. To answer this question, we injected the retrograde tracer, cholera toxin B (CTB), into the BNST or MPOA of male subjects and identified whether retrogradely-labeled cells in Me and BNST 1) expressed immediate early genes (IEGs) following exposure to male and/or female odors or 2) expressed androgen receptor (AR). Although few retrogradely-labeled cells co-localized with IEGs, a higher percentage of BNST- and MPOA-projecting cells in the posterior Me (MeP) expressed IEGs in response to female odors than to male odors. The percentage of retrogradely-labeled cells that expressed IEGs did not, however, differ between and female and male odor-exposed groups in the anterior Me (MeA), posterointermediate BNST (BNSTpi), or posteromedial BNST (BNSTpm). Many retrogradely-labeled cells co-localized with AR, and a higher percentage of retrogradely-labeled MeP and BNSTpm cells expressed AR than retrogradely-labeled MeA and BNSTpi cells, respectively. Together, these data demonstrate that Me, BNST, and MPOA interact as a functional circuit to process sex-specific odor cues and hormone information in male Syrian hamsters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura E Been
- Georgia State University, Neuroscience Institute, 100 Piedmont Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA.
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Mueller SG, Laxer KD, Scanlon C, Garcia P, McMullen WJ, Loring DW, Meador KJ, Weiner MW. Different structural correlates for verbal memory impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy with and without mesial temporal lobe sclerosis. Hum Brain Mapp 2011; 33:489-99. [PMID: 21438080 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2010] [Revised: 11/17/2010] [Accepted: 11/18/2010] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Memory impairment is one of the most prominent cognitive deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The overall goal of this study was to explore the contribution of cortical and hippocampal (subfield) damage to impairment of auditory immediate recall (AIMrecall), auditory delayed recall (ADMrecall), and auditory delayed recognition (ADMrecog) of the Wechsler Memory Scale III (WMS-III) in TLE with (TLE-MTS) and without hippocampal sclerosis (TLE-no). It was hypothesized that volume loss in different subfields determines memory impairment in TLE-MTS and temporal neocortical thinning in TLE-no. METHODS T1 whole brain and T2-weighted hippocampal magnetic resonance imaging and WMS-III were acquired in 22 controls, 18 TLE-MTS, and 25 TLE-no. Hippocampal subfields were determined on the T2 image. Free surfer was used to obtain cortical thickness averages of temporal, frontal, and parietal cortical regions of interest (ROI). MANOVA and stepwise regression analysis were used to identify hippocampal subfields and cortical ROI significantly contributing to AIMrecall, ADMrecall, and ADMrecog. RESULTS In TLE-MTS, AIMrecall was associated with cornu ammonis 3 (CA3) and dentate (CA3&DG) and pars opercularis, ADMrecall with CA1 and pars triangularis, and ADMrecog with CA1. In TLE-no, AIMrecall was associated with CA3&DG and fusiform gyrus (FUSI), and ADMrecall and ADMrecog were associated with FUSI. CONCLUSION The study provided the evidence for different structural correlates of the verbal memory impairment in TLE-MTS and TLE-no. In TLE-MTS, the memory impairment was mainly associated by subfield-specific hippocampal and inferior frontal cortical damage. In TLE-no, the impairment was associated by mesial-temporal cortical and to a lesser degree hippocampal damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne G Mueller
- Department of Radiology, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA.
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