Dorsal raphe nucleus to anterior cingulate cortex 5-HTergic neural circuit modulates consolation and sociability

eLife

Li-Zi Zhang¹  Huan Ma¹  Yi-Tong Li¹  Zhi-Xiong He¹  Yu-Ting Zhang¹  Yu-Feng Xun¹  Fa-Dao Tai¹  Wen-Juan Hou¹  Zi-Jian Lv¹  Rui Jia¹  Laifu Li²  Wei Yuan³ 

[1] Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;College of Life Sciences, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, China;Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;Provincial Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medications, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, China;

关键词: consolation;    empathy;    anterior cingulate cortex;    serotonin;    mandarin voles;    dorsal raphe nucleus;    Other;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.67638

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Consolation is a common response to the distress of others in humans and some social animals, but the neural mechanisms underlying this behavior are not well characterized. By using socially monogamous mandarin voles, we found that optogenetic or chemogenetic inhibition of 5-HTergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) or optogenetic inhibition of serotonin (5-HT) terminals in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) significantly decreased allogrooming time in the consolation test and reduced sociability in the three-chamber test. The release of 5-HT within the ACC and the activity of DR neurons were significantly increased during allogrooming, sniffing, and social approaching. Finally, we found that the activation of 5-HT1A receptors in the ACC was sufficient to reverse consolation and sociability deficits induced by the chemogenetic inhibition of 5-HTergic neurons in the DR. Our study provided the first direct evidence that DR-ACC 5-HTergic neural circuit is implicated in consolation-like behaviors and sociability.

【 授权许可】

CC BY