Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons
Social fear and avoidance of social partners and social situations represent the core behavioral symptom of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), a prevalent psychiatric disorder worldwide. The pathological mechanism of SAD remains elusive and there are no specific and satisfactory therapeutic options curr...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2020.611732/full |
| _version_ | 1819058950115426304 |
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| author | Jun Wang Jun Wang Yuanyuan Tian Yuanyuan Tian Ling-Hui Zeng Han Xu Han Xu Han Xu |
| author_facet | Jun Wang Jun Wang Yuanyuan Tian Yuanyuan Tian Ling-Hui Zeng Han Xu Han Xu Han Xu |
| author_sort | Jun Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social fear and avoidance of social partners and social situations represent the core behavioral symptom of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), a prevalent psychiatric disorder worldwide. The pathological mechanism of SAD remains elusive and there are no specific and satisfactory therapeutic options currently available. With the development of appropriate animal models, growing studies start to unravel neuronal circuit mechanisms underlying social fear, and underscore a fundamental role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Prefrontal cortical functions are implemented by a finely wired microcircuit composed of excitatory principal neurons (PNs) and diverse subtypes of inhibitory interneurons (INs). Disinhibition, defined as a break in inhibition via interactions between IN subtypes that enhances the output of excitatory PNs, has recently been discovered to serve as an efficient strategy in cortical information processing. Here, we review the rodent animal models of social fear, the prefrontal IN diversity, and their circuits with a particular emphasis on a novel disinhibitory microcircuit mediated by somatostatin-expressing INs in gating social fear behavior. The INs subtype distinct and microcircuit-based mechanism advances our understanding of the etiology of social fear and sheds light on developing future treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders associated with social fear. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:03:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-992fa2c80ef04cb486a411d46f481f14 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:03:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-992fa2c80ef04cb486a411d46f481f142022-12-21T19:01:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience1662-51022020-12-011410.3389/fncel.2020.611732611732Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin InterneuronsJun Wang0Jun Wang1Yuanyuan Tian2Yuanyuan Tian3Ling-Hui Zeng4Han Xu5Han Xu6Han Xu7Department of Neurobiology and Department of Neurology of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, ChinaNHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain-Machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Neurobiology and Department of Neurology of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, ChinaNHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain-Machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Neurobiology and Department of Neurology of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, ChinaNHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain-Machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, ChinaSocial fear and avoidance of social partners and social situations represent the core behavioral symptom of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), a prevalent psychiatric disorder worldwide. The pathological mechanism of SAD remains elusive and there are no specific and satisfactory therapeutic options currently available. With the development of appropriate animal models, growing studies start to unravel neuronal circuit mechanisms underlying social fear, and underscore a fundamental role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Prefrontal cortical functions are implemented by a finely wired microcircuit composed of excitatory principal neurons (PNs) and diverse subtypes of inhibitory interneurons (INs). Disinhibition, defined as a break in inhibition via interactions between IN subtypes that enhances the output of excitatory PNs, has recently been discovered to serve as an efficient strategy in cortical information processing. Here, we review the rodent animal models of social fear, the prefrontal IN diversity, and their circuits with a particular emphasis on a novel disinhibitory microcircuit mediated by somatostatin-expressing INs in gating social fear behavior. The INs subtype distinct and microcircuit-based mechanism advances our understanding of the etiology of social fear and sheds light on developing future treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders associated with social fear.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2020.611732/fullsocial anxiety disordersocial fearinterneurondisinhibitionprefrontal cortex |
| spellingShingle | Jun Wang Jun Wang Yuanyuan Tian Yuanyuan Tian Ling-Hui Zeng Han Xu Han Xu Han Xu Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience social anxiety disorder social fear interneuron disinhibition prefrontal cortex |
| title | Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons |
| title_full | Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons |
| title_fullStr | Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons |
| title_short | Prefrontal Disinhibition in Social Fear: A Vital Action of Somatostatin Interneurons |
| title_sort | prefrontal disinhibition in social fear a vital action of somatostatin interneurons |
| topic | social anxiety disorder social fear interneuron disinhibition prefrontal cortex |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2020.611732/full |
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