Interrogating the role of inhibitory interneurons of the nucleus accumbens in social attachment

项目摘要 社交依恋是我们日常生活的基础，在各种精神障碍中会受到干扰。然而， 提高社会依恋的新治疗选择的开发因我们的不精确而受阻 了解潜在的细胞和电路机制。在潜在的神经回路的核心 社交依恋是伏隔核(NAC)，也是我的论文实验室《调查对》的最新研究成果 一夫一妻制草原田鼠的结合表明，NAC的单个神经元编码为伴侣- 关联的社交互动。 在一系列专注于神经元群体如何编码配对结合的新分析中，我发现 神经元表现出作为成对键形成的函数的同步活动。进一步的分析表明， 在NAc内提供强大抑制来源的抑制性中间神经元可能协调这一过程。 神经元之间的同步性。因此，这一提议的目标是准确地研究NAC中间神经元是如何 编码成对键，并测试NAC中间神经元是否对键诱导的神经元同步性是必需的 以及形成成对键。该项目将利用尖端方法来观察和 操纵NAC中间神经元，并将提供第一个特定于神经元的洞察草原如何 Vole NAC促进了配对绑定。 总之，这项提案中的实验将扩大我们对社会如何 依附在伏隔核内的细胞水平上得到支持。这项工作还将提供 申请人接受了宝贵的培训，为他未来的职业生涯提供了一名专注于翻译的儿科神经科医生 从细胞和回路神经科学的基础知识转化为新的、高度精确的社会疗法 功能障碍。

Project Summary Social attachment is fundamental to our daily lives and is disrupted in various psychiatric disorders. However, development of new therapeutic options for enhancing social attachment has been hampered by our imprecise understanding of the underlying cellular and circuit mechanisms. At the heart of neural circuits underlying social attachment is the nucleus accumbens (NAc), and recent work by my thesis lab, investigating pair bonding in monogamous prairie voles, suggests that individual neurons of the NAc encode for partner- associated social interaction. In a series of new analyses focused on how populations of neurons encode for pair bonding, I found that neurons exhibited synchronous activity as a function of pair bond formation. Further analyses suggest that inhibitory interneurons, which provide a powerful source of inhibition within the NAc, may coordinate this synchrony between neurons. Thus, the goal of this proposal is to examine precisely how NAc interneurons encode pair bonds, and to test whether NAc interneurons are necessary for bond-induced neuronal synchrony and for pair bond formation. This project will leverage cutting-edge methods for both observing and manipulating NAc interneurons and would provide the first interneuron-specific insights into how the prairie vole NAc facilitates pair bonding. Together, the experiments in this proposal will expand our fundamental understanding of how social attachment is supported at the cellular level within the nucleus accumbens. This work will also provide the applicant with invaluable training for his future career as a pediatric neurologist focused on translating foundational knowledge from cellular and circuits neuroscience into novel, highly precise therapies for social dysfunction.