The Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, The University of Lausanne, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Science. 2024 Sep 6;385(6713):1081-1086. doi: 10.1126/science.adp3897. Epub 2024 Sep 5.
Negative emotional contagion-witnessing others in distress-affects an individual's emotional responsivity. However, whether it shapes coping strategies when facing future threats remains unknown. We found that mice that briefly observe a conspecific being harmed become resilient, withstanding behavioral despair after an adverse experience. Photometric recordings during negative emotional contagion revealed increased serotonin (5-HT) release in the lateral habenula. Whereas 5-HT and emotional contagion reduced habenular burst firing, limiting 5-HT synthesis prevented burst plasticity. Enhancing raphe-to-habenula 5-HT was sufficient to recapitulate resilience. In contrast, reducing 5-HT release in the habenula made witnessing a conspecific in distress ineffective to promote the resilient phenotype after adversity. These findings reveal that 5-HT supports vicarious emotions and leads to resilience by tuning definite patterns of habenular neuronal activity.
负面情绪感染——目睹他人痛苦——会影响个体的情绪反应能力。然而，当面对未来的威胁时，它是否会影响应对策略尚不清楚。我们发现，短暂观察到同类受到伤害的老鼠会变得有弹性，在经历逆境后能够承受行为绝望。在负面情绪感染过程中的光度记录显示，外侧缰核中的 5-羟色胺（5-HT）释放增加。虽然 5-HT 和情绪感染会降低缰核爆发放电，但限制 5-HT 合成会阻止爆发可塑性。增强中缝核到缰核的 5-HT 足以重现弹性。相比之下，减少缰核中的 5-HT 释放会使目睹同类痛苦无法在逆境后有效地促进弹性表型。这些发现表明，5-HT 通过调节缰核神经元活动的特定模式来支持替代性情绪，并导致弹性。
