Encoding and Control of Social Behavior in Prefrontal Cortical Ensembles

项目总结/摘要 社交障碍是神经精神障碍如抑郁症和负性抑郁症的常见症状。 社会经验在它们的发展和维持中发挥作用。因此，从人类健康的角度来看， 阐明社会知觉和社会认知的神经回路是一个关键的焦点 用于基础神经科学研究。尽管如此，尽管其明显的重要性， 大脑处理社会信息并利用它来指导社会行为仍然是一个谜。对人类以及 在啮齿类动物中，内侧前额叶皮质与社会认知密切相关， 前额叶回路被认为是在精神疾病中观察到的一些社会障碍的基础。 系统神经科学的最新进展已经揭示了服务于社会功能的特定电路元件， 包括攻击性社会地位和支配行为然而，目前尚不清楚社会行为如何 选择是由感官和上下文线索调制的，以及社会信息是如何在高阶中表示的。 大脑区域，如前额叶皮层。该提案中概述的研究计划旨在揭示 内侧前额叶神经元如何编码社会信息，以及这些信息如何用于塑造环境- 依赖性的社会决策，如支配行为。在自由活动的小鼠中使用体内钙成像， 拟议的实验将揭示前额叶集合如何编码社会感官线索（目标1），以及如何 这些信息被用来指导社会支配决策（目标2）。利用光学记录和光遗传学 扰动，目标3将集中在前额叶投射到背Raphé核的作用-一个皮质下 结构牵连在社会情绪和动机状态的调节-在编排社会 支配行为从这些实验中获得的见解将扩大我们对 大脑使用社会线索来塑造行为，为社会行为背后的神经机制提供了新的线索。 为治疗精神疾病的新方法奠定基础。

Project Summary/Abstract Social impairment is a common symptom among neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, and negative social experience plays a role in their development and maintenance. Thus, from a human health standpoint, the elucidation of neural circuitry underlying social perception and social cognition represents a critical focal point for basic neuroscientific research. Still, despite its obvious importance, a thorough understanding of how the brain processes social information and uses it to guide social behavior remains elusive. In humans and in rodents, the medial prefrontal cortex has been strongly implicated in social cognition, and dysfunction in prefrontal circuitry is thought to underlie some of the social impairments observed in psychiatric conditions. Recent advances in systems neuroscience have uncovered specific circuit elements serving social functions, including aggression, social status, and dominance behaviors. However, it is not clear how social behavioral choices are modulated by sensory and contextual cues, and how social information is represented in high-order brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex. The research program outlined in this proposal seeks to uncover how medial prefrontal neurons encode social information, and how this information is used to shape context- dependent social decisions such as dominance behavior. Using in vivo calcium imaging in freely behaving mice, the proposed experiments will reveal how prefrontal ensembles encode social sensory cues (Aim 1), and how this information is used to guide social dominance decisions (Aim 2). Using optical recordings and optogenetic perturbations, Aim 3 will focus on the role of prefrontal projections to the dorsal Raphé nucleus — a subcortical structure implicated in the regulation of socioemotional and motivational states — in orchestrating social dominance behavior. The insights garnered from these experiments will expand our understanding of how the brain uses social cues to shape behavior, shedding new light onto the neural mechanisms underlying social functioning and laying the groundwork for new approaches to treat psychiatric illness.