Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, IMN, Bordeaux, France.
Univ. Poitiers, Inserm, LNEC, Poitiers, France.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 21;15(1):7142. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51389-4.
The Insula functions as a multisensory relay involved in socio-emotional processing with projections to sensory, cognitive, emotional, and motivational regions. Notably, the interhemispheric projection from the Insula to the contralateral Insula is a robust yet underexplored connection. Using viral-based tracing neuroanatomy, ex vivo and in vivo electrophysiology, in vivo fiber photometry along with targeted circuit manipulation, we elucidated the nature and role of Insula communication in social and anxiety processing in mice. In this study, we 1) characterized the anatomical and molecular profile of the Insula neurons, 2) demonstrated that stimulation of this neuronal subpopulation induces excitation in the Insula interhemispheric circuit, 3) revealed that Insula neurons are essential for social discrimination after 24 h of isolation in male mice. In conclusion, our findings highlight Insula neurons as a distinct class of neurons within the insula and offer new insights into the neuronal mechanisms underlying social behavior.
脑岛作为一个涉及社会情感处理的多感觉中继，其投射到感觉、认知、情感和动机区域。值得注意的是，脑岛到对侧脑岛的半球间投射是一个强大但尚未得到充分探索的连接。本研究利用基于病毒的示踪神经解剖学、离体和在体电生理学、在体光纤光度法以及靶向电路操作，阐明了在社交和焦虑处理中，脑岛通讯的性质和作用。在这项研究中，我们 1）描述了脑岛神经元的解剖和分子特征，2）证明了刺激这个神经元亚群会在脑岛半球间回路中引起兴奋，3）揭示了脑岛神经元在雄性小鼠隔离 24 小时后进行社交辨别是必不可少的。总之，我们的发现强调了脑岛神经元作为脑岛内的一个独特神经元群，并为社交行为的神经元机制提供了新的见解。
