Boston College, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
Boston College, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2022 Oct 28;435:114050. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114050. Epub 2022 Aug 13.
Vocalizations, chemosignals, and behaviors are influenced by one's internal affective state and are used by others to shape social behaviors. A network of interconnected brain structures, often called the social behavior network or social decision-making network, integrates these stimuli and coordinates social behaviors, and in-network connectivity deficits underlie several psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. Here, we investigated the role of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and its projections to the posterior insular cortex, regions independently implicated in a range of sociocognitive processes, in a social affective preference (SAP) test. Viral vectors containing the gene coding for inhibitory chemogenetic receptors (AAV5-hSyn-hM4Di-mCherry) were injected into the BLA. SAP tests, which allow for the observation of unconditioned behavioral responses to the affective states of others, were conducted after inhibition of the BLA by systemic administration of the hM4Di agonist clozapine-n-oxide (CNO), or inhibition of BLA-insula terminals by direct infusion of CNO to the insula. After vehicle infusions, rats displayed preference for interactions with stressed juvenile conspecifics. However, CNO treatment eliminated preference behavior. The current results suggest that social decision making involves the transfer of emotional information from the BLA to the insula which represents a previously unrecognized anatomical substrate for social cognition.
发声、化学信号和行为受个体内部情感状态的影响，并被他人用于塑造社会行为。一个相互连接的大脑结构网络，通常称为社会行为网络或社会决策网络，整合了这些刺激并协调社会行为，而网络连接缺陷是精神分裂症和自闭症谱系障碍等几种精神疾病的基础。在这里，我们研究了外侧杏仁核（BLA）及其投射到后岛叶的作用，这些区域独立参与了一系列社会认知过程，在社会情感偏好（SAP）测试中。含有编码抑制性化学遗传受体（AAV5-hSyn-hM4Di-mCherry）的病毒载体被注射到 BLA 中。SAP 测试允许观察到对他人情感状态的无条件行为反应，在通过系统给予 hM4Di 激动剂氯氮平-n-氧化物（CNO）抑制 BLA 或直接将 CNO 输注到岛叶抑制 BLA-岛叶末端后进行。在载体输注后，大鼠表现出与应激幼体同类的偏好互动。然而，CNO 处理消除了偏好行为。目前的结果表明，社会决策涉及从 BLA 到岛叶的情绪信息传递，这代表了以前未被认识到的社会认知解剖学基础。
