Neural Mechanisms of Social Recognition and Memory

描述(由申请人提供)：本方案的目标是了解沟通和社会行为的神经机制，以及相关的情绪和动机状态，特别是个人和亲属的识别。的一个相关目标是了解这些过程背后的神经机制，特别是发现大脑中涉及社会识别和记忆的区域，与识别熟悉的个人和随后的社会行为相关的情绪和动机机制，以及与这些能力相关的感觉过程。这些结果将与理解涉及社会互动的许多类型的精神和行为障碍有关，例如自闭症和抑郁症、人格障碍(例如反社会、回避性、偏执或分裂样)、社交焦虑、社交恐惧症以及社会诱导压力和创伤后压力的影响。此外，这些发现将与中风、头部损伤或包括阿尔茨海默氏症在内的退行性疾病造成的残疾相关。 这项研究的具体目的是利用我们对仓鼠社会行为和交流的广泛知识作为一个模型系统来研究通过气味识别个体、亲属和性别的神经机制。有三个具体目标。(1)用免疫组织化学方法识别表达早期基因的细胞，我们将识别在对熟悉的个体做出反应时激活的大脑区域以及对他们的适当情绪反应。(2)利用微量注射利多卡因，我们将确定大脑中哪些区域是个体和性别识别所必需的，并对这些个体做出适当的反应。大脑特别感兴趣的区域包括嗅觉投射通路、基底外侧杏仁核和内侧杏仁核、内嗅觉皮质、鼻周皮质、海马体和下丘脑。(3)主嗅球和副嗅球在处理有关个体和亲属的信息方面的作用，以及社会经验在改变嗅球活动模式中的作用。这些实验将提供关于社会认知、社会记忆的神经基础，以及与已知个人互动引起的情绪和动机反应的新的和独特的知识。这些机制是非人类动物和人类社会行为的重要组成部分。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying communication and social behavior and related emotional and motivational states, particularly individual and kin recognition. A related goal of is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying these processes, especially the discovery of areas of the brain involved in social recognition and memory, emotional and motivational mechanisms related to recognition of familiar individuals and the consequent social behavior, and the sensory processes related to these abilities. The results will be relevant to understanding many types of mental and behavioral disorders that involve social interactions, such as autism and depression, personality disorders (e.g., antisocial, avoidant, paranoid or schizoid), social anxiety, social phobias and the effects of socially induced stress and post-traumatic stress. In addition, the findings will be relevant to disabilities due to stroke, head injury, or degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. The specific aims of the study are to use our extensive knowledge about social behavior and communication in hamsters as a model system to investigate the neural mechanisms of recognition of individuals, kin, and sex by odors. There are three specific goals. (1) Using immunohistochemistry to identify cells expressing immediate early genes, we will identify brain areas activated during response to familiar individuals and appropriate emotional responses to them. (2) Using micro-infusion of lidocaine, we will determine which brain regions are necessary for individual and sex recognition and appropriate responses to such individuals. Brain areas of particular interest include the olfactory projection pathways, basolateral and medial amygdala, entorhinal cortex, peri-rhinal cortex, the hippocampus, and the subiculum. (3) The role of the main and accessory olfactory bulbs in processing information about individuals and kin and the role of social experiences in altering the patterns of activity in the bulb. These experiments will provide new and unique knowledge about the neural basis of social recognition, social memory, and the emotional and motivational responses caused by interactions with known individuals. These mechanisms are essential building blocks in the social behavior of non-human animals and humans.