Neuroendocrinology of social information processing in rats and mice

Choleris, Elena; Clipperton-Allen, Amy E.; Phan, Anna; Kavaliers, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2009.05.003

Cited by 171 publications

(197 citation statements)

References 253 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

187

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is crucially involved in initiating maternal and alloparental behavior in rodents (1) and facilitates social approach by reducing anxiety and neuroendocrine stress responses (2). Moreover, it enables social bonding in voles (3) and enhances the saliency of social information, thereby strengthening recognition memory for conspecific animals (4).…”

Section: Different Amygdala Subregions Mediate Valencerelated and Attmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different amygdala subregions mediate valence-related and attentional effects of oxytocin in humans

Gamer

Zurowski

Büchel

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

452

427

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The neuropeptide oxytocin enhances the processing of positive social stimuli and improves the capacity to effectively attend the eye region of conspecifics. To investigate the neural basis of these effects, we combined intranasal oxytocin administration with high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging in a unique emotion classification task. Emotional faces were briefly presented while controlling for the initial fixation, and measuring subsequent eye movements. Oxytocin had differential effects on the activity of specific amygdala subregions. On the one hand, it attenuated activation in lateral and dorsal regions of the anterior amygdala for fearful faces but enhanced activity for happy expressions, thus indicating a shift of the processing focus toward positive social stimuli. On the other hand, oxytocin increased the likelihood of reflexive gaze shifts toward the eye region irrespective of the depicted emotional expression. This gazing pattern was related to an increase of activity in the posterior amygdala and an enhanced functional coupling of this region to the superior colliculi. Thus, different behavioral effects of oxytocin seem to be closely related its specific modulatory influence on subregions within the human amygdala.

show abstract

Section: Different Amygdala Subregions Mediate Valencerelated and Attmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different amygdala subregions mediate valence-related and attentional effects of oxytocin in humans

Gamer

Zurowski

Büchel

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

452

427

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, we aimed to obtain a reversal of social fear in general and not a reversal of fear toward a specific individual. Second, we aimed to maintain high interest in the social stimuli as repeated exposure to the same conspecific has been shown to decrease social interest in both mice (Ferguson et al, 2002;Choleris et al, 2009) and rats (Thor et al, 1982;Popik and van Ree, 1998). This exposurelike paradigm is similar to exposure therapy during CBT in humans, where patients are repeatedly exposed to the feared situation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Fear Conditioning: A Novel and Specific Animal Model to Study Social Anxiety Disorder

Toth

Neumann

Slattery

2012

Neuropsychopharmacol

125

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a major health concern with high lifetime prevalence. The current medication is rather unspecific and, despite considerable efforts, its efficacy is still unsatisfactory. However, there are no appropriate and specific animal models available to study the underlying etiology of the disorder. Therefore, we aimed to establish a model of specific social fear in mice and use this social fear conditioning (SFC) model to assess the therapeutic efficacy of the benzodiazepine diazepam and of the antidepressant paroxetine; treatments currently used for SAD patients. We show that by administering electric foot shocks (2-5, 1 s, 0.7 mA) during the investigation of a con-specific, the investigation of unfamiliar con-specifics was reduced for both the short-and long-term, indicating lasting social fear. The induced fear was specific to social stimuli and did not lead to other behavioral alterations, such as fear of novelty, general anxiety, depression, and impaired locomotion. We show that social fear was dose-dependently reversed by acute diazepam, at doses that were not anxiolytic in a non-social context, such as the elevated plus maze. Finally, we show that chronic paroxetine treatment reversed social fear. All in all, we demonstrated robust social fear after exposure to SFC in mice, which was reversed with both acute benzodiazepine and chronic antidepressant treatment. We propose the SFC model as an appropriate animal model to identify the underlying etiology of SAD and possible novel treatment approaches.

show abstract

“…In some studies, this phase is followed by the later presentation of a new conspecific, which typically stimulates social investigation. Despite its popularity, this variant presents some difficulties in data interpretation because the requirement for repeated testing may affect the motivation for social investigation (Choleris et al, 2009).…”

Section: Experimental Paradigms For Social Memory In Rodentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some cases, the two stimulus animals are left to freely move about the cage, whereas in other studies, they are confined within wired cups, which is frequently the case when a three-chambered apparatus is used (Silverman et al, 2010). The social discrimination paradigm has proven to be more sensitive for measuring social recognition than the habituation/dishabituation test (Choleris et al, 2009), and in particular, the variant with the three-chambered apparatus facilitates scoring with video-tracking systems.…”

Section: Experimental Paradigms For Social Memory In Rodentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comprehensive reviews of both social recognition (Popik and van Ree, 1998;Winslow and Insel, 2004) and social learning (Choleris et al, 2009) can be found in the literature. The current article summarizes the key findings obtained with the social recognition and social learning paradigms, including the factors that modulate the formation and expression of these memories and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Social memories in rodents: Methods, mechanisms and modulation by stress

Kooij

Sandi

2012

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tIntact social memory forms the basis of meaningful interactions between individuals. Many factors can modulate the quality of social memory, and these have been studied in detail in rodents. Social memory, however, cannot be considered a single entity. The term social memory reflects different processes, such as social recognition of a novel conspecific individual and social learning (or 'learning from others'). This review summarizes the findings obtained with behavioral paradigms that were developed for the study of memory formation by social recognition and social learning. In particular, we focus on studies that include tests for social habituation/discrimination paradigms, tests for memory of a previously established social hierarchy and the social transmission of the food preference test. The role of individual differences and the main neurobiological mechanisms (i.e., the brain regions and neurochemical systems involved) that have been implicated in each of these types of social-related memories are reviewed. In addition, we address the key modulatory influence of stress on the formation of these types of memories; discussing the contribution of central (corticotropin-releasing factor, CRF) and peripheral (glucocorticoids) stress systems and their interactions with the social neuropeptide systems. Overall, we present here a general overview of the current state of a thriving research area within the field of social neuroscience.

show abstract

Neuroendocrinology of social information processing in rats and mice

Cited by 171 publications

References 253 publications

Different amygdala subregions mediate valence-related and attentional effects of oxytocin in humans

Different amygdala subregions mediate valence-related and attentional effects of oxytocin in humans

Social Fear Conditioning: A Novel and Specific Animal Model to Study Social Anxiety Disorder

Social memories in rodents: Methods, mechanisms and modulation by stress

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About