Socioemotional Behavior and Amygdala-Based Circuitry in Primates

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案旨在确定大脑中负责异常社会情绪行为的神经基质。这种理解对于开发诊断和治疗方法来识别和治疗神经精神疾病（如情感障碍和焦虑症）中的异常脑回路至关重要。社会行为研究领域仍然缺乏适当的动物模型来研究导致不适当攻击、社会焦虑/恐惧、社会退缩/脱离、冲动或防御的社会病理。在非啮齿动物模型中研究社会行为的神经生物学尤其有希望，因为社会互动和情绪处理的损害产生的症状类似于在人类患者中观察到的精神病理学。此外，这些研究将允许在啮齿类动物中不可行的水平上分析社会互动。因此，这项工作有望大大提高我们对人类社会互动的神经基质在规范和病理中的理解，特别是与焦虑和抑郁相关的神经基质。拟议的研究旨在调查以杏仁核为基础的网络的新组成部分，该网络调节社会情绪反应，以解释在没有结构损伤的情况下可能引起精神病理的不平衡。将分析DLSC操作对杏仁核内解除抑制引起的行为异常易感性的影响，以确定DLSC在调解和/或调节杏仁核回路影响中的作用。了解杏仁核衍生和丘顶衍生的防御性和攻击性情绪基调调节之间的功能关系，有望为情感和焦虑障碍的病因学和治疗干预揭示新的靶点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposal aims to identify the neural substrates in the brain that are responsible for abnormal socio-emotional behavior. This understanding is vital for developing both diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to identify and treat the abnormal brain circuitry in neuropsychiatric conditions such as affective and anxiety disorders. The field of social behavior research still lacks appropriate animal models for social pathology that leads to inappropriate aggression, social anxiety/phobias, social withdrawal/detachment, impulsivity, or defensiveness. The study of the neurobiology of social behavior in non-rodent models is especially promising since the impairment in social interactions and emotional processing generates symptomatology that resembles psychopathology observed in human patients. Moreover these studies will permit an analysis of social interactions at a level not feasible in rodents. Therefore, this work promises to substantially advance our understanding of the neural substrates of human social interactions in the norm and pathology with a special relevance to anxiety and depression. The proposed research seeks to investigate the novel components of the amygdala-based network that regulates socioemotional responses in order to account for imbalances that can give rise to psychopathology in the absence of structural lesions. The effects of the DLSC manipulations on the vulnerability to behavioral abnormalities evoked by disinhibition within nuclei of the amygdala will be analyzed to determine the role of DLSC in mediating and/or modulating the influence of the amygdala circuitry. An understanding of the functional relationship between the amygdala-derived and colliculus- derived regulation of defensive and aggressive emotional tone is expected to reveal novel targets for both etiology and therapeutic intervention for affective and anxiety disorders.