胜利经历重塑丘脑–前额叶皮层神经通路以稳固社会等级

History of Winning Remodels Thalamo-PFC Circuit to Reinforce Social Dominance

精神力量和胜利经历对于社会等级的决定起到了重要作用。然而,介导这些内部和外部输赢决定因素的神经环路机制依然尚未可知。我们在背侧前额叶皮层(dorsomedial prefrontal cortex,dm PFC)中发现了一群在钻管测试中控制努力行为的神经元。激活或者抑制dm PFC可以使社会等级相应地升高或者下降。基于光遗传学在体长时程突触增强和减弱实验,我们证明中缝背侧丘脑到dm PFC的投射会被胜利经历重塑并介导了"胜利者效应"。我们发现社会优势地位可以在不同竞争范式中转移。这些结果为我们理解社交行为的适应性和病理状态的神经环路基础提供了线索。

Mental strength and history of winning play an important role in the determination of social dominance. However, the neural circuits mediating these intrinsic and extrinsic factors have remained unclear. Working in mice, we identified a dorsomedial prefrontal cortex （dmPFC） neural population showing ＂effort＂-related firing during moment-to-moment competition in the dominance tube test. Activation or inhibition of the dmPFC induce instant winning or losing, respectively. In vivo optogenetic-based long-term potentiation and depression experiments establish that the mediodorsal thalamic input to the dmPFC mediates long-lasting changes in the social dominance status that are affected by history of winning. The same neural circuit also underlies transfer of dominance between different social contests. These results provide a framework for understanding the circuit basis of adaptive and pathological social behaviors.