Neural circuits for regulating social behavior in rodents

项目摘要 与生俱来的社会行为，如攻击性、交配和养育子女，为我们提供了一个了解大脑的强大窗口 将感觉输入映射到适当的运动输出的神经网络。啮齿动物紧凑的结构 犁鼻系统是理想的表征电路，翻译确定，性别特异性 将化学信号转化为与不同同种的特征相匹配的反应。在这里， 这一系统的两个看似矛盾的作用：需要调解与同一个人的陈规定型的相互作用， 或异性伴侣，同时仍然提供灵活性，以应对不同的个人， 建立社会关系。我们描述了介导变化的学习机制， 攻击性，一种典型的、高度健壮的男性行为，被支配地位有力地改变。 关系。使用强大的遗传工具来访问功能不同的感觉通路， 副嗅球，我们的实验将解决（1）细胞可塑性过程，适应 攻击水平，以反映社会经验，（2）的方式，熟悉形状的感官 在活跃的社会互动过程中同种的表征，和（3）电路解剖， 组织与行为相关的感觉信号并将其发送到下游的边缘系统中心。更深 了解调节攻击性的神经机制可能有助于设计策略， 减轻人类社区的病态行为。更广泛地说，对大脑的更深入了解 社交行为网络与理解自闭症谱系障碍高度相关。

Project Summary Innate social behaviors such as aggression, mating, and parenting offer a powerful window on the brain networks that map sensory input onto appropriate motor outputs. The compact architecture of the rodent vomeronasal system is ideal for characterizing the circuits that translate identified, sex-specific chemosignals into responses matched to the characteristics of different conspecifics. Here we address two seemingly contradictory roles of this system: the need to mediate stereotyped interactions with same- or opposite-sex partners, while still providing flexibility in responses to different individuals based on established social relationships. We characterize the learning mechanisms that mediate changes in aggression, a prototypical and highly robust male behavior that is powerfully altered by dominance relationships. Using powerful genetic tools to access functionally distinct sensory pathways in the accessory olfactory bulb, our experiments will address (1) the cellular plasticity processes that adapt aggression levels to reflect social experience, (2) the way that familiarity shapes the sensory representations of conspecifics during active social interactions, and (3) the circuit anatomy that organizes behaviorally relevant sensory signals and routes them to downstream limbic centers. A deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms for regulating aggression may help design strategies for mitigating pathological behaviors in human communities. More broadly, a deeper knowledge of the brain networks for social behaviors is highly relevant for understanding autism spectrum disorders.