Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity
Abstract The presence of a companion can reduce fear, but the neural mechanisms underlying this social buffering of fear are incompletely known. We studied social buffering of fear in male and female, and its encoding in the amygdala of male, auditory fear-conditioned rats. Pharmacological, opto,- a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45626-z |
| _version_ | 1797266722946809856 |
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| author | Chloe Hegoburu Yan Tang Ruifang Niu Supriya Ghosh Rodrigo Triana Del Rio Isabel de Araujo Salgado Marios Abatis David Alexandre Mota Caseiro Erwin H. van den Burg Christophe Grundschober Ron Stoop |
| author_facet | Chloe Hegoburu Yan Tang Ruifang Niu Supriya Ghosh Rodrigo Triana Del Rio Isabel de Araujo Salgado Marios Abatis David Alexandre Mota Caseiro Erwin H. van den Burg Christophe Grundschober Ron Stoop |
| author_sort | Chloe Hegoburu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The presence of a companion can reduce fear, but the neural mechanisms underlying this social buffering of fear are incompletely known. We studied social buffering of fear in male and female, and its encoding in the amygdala of male, auditory fear-conditioned rats. Pharmacological, opto,- and/or chemogenetic interventions showed that oxytocin signaling from hypothalamus-to-central amygdala projections underlied fear reduction acutely with a companion and social buffering retention 24 h later without a companion. Single-unit recordings with optetrodes in the central amygdala revealed fear-encoding neurons (showing increased conditioned stimulus-responses after fear conditioning) inhibited by social buffering and blue light-stimulated oxytocinergic hypothalamic projections. Other central amygdala neurons showed baseline activity enhanced by blue light and companion exposure, with increased conditioned stimulus responses that persisted without the companion. Social buffering of fear thus switches the conditioned stimulus from encoding “fear” to “safety” by oxytocin-mediated recruitment of a distinct group of central amygdala “buffer neurons”. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:05:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b58bf69782eb4b4db4ecba5e07e13753 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:05:13Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-b58bf69782eb4b4db4ecba5e07e137532024-03-10T12:16:07ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-03-0115111510.1038/s41467-024-45626-zSocial buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activityChloe Hegoburu0Yan Tang1Ruifang Niu2Supriya Ghosh3Rodrigo Triana Del Rio4Isabel de Araujo Salgado5Marios Abatis6David Alexandre Mota Caseiro7Erwin H. van den Burg8Christophe Grundschober9Ron Stoop10Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVRoche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience Discovery, Roche Innovation Center BaselCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, CHUVAbstract The presence of a companion can reduce fear, but the neural mechanisms underlying this social buffering of fear are incompletely known. We studied social buffering of fear in male and female, and its encoding in the amygdala of male, auditory fear-conditioned rats. Pharmacological, opto,- and/or chemogenetic interventions showed that oxytocin signaling from hypothalamus-to-central amygdala projections underlied fear reduction acutely with a companion and social buffering retention 24 h later without a companion. Single-unit recordings with optetrodes in the central amygdala revealed fear-encoding neurons (showing increased conditioned stimulus-responses after fear conditioning) inhibited by social buffering and blue light-stimulated oxytocinergic hypothalamic projections. Other central amygdala neurons showed baseline activity enhanced by blue light and companion exposure, with increased conditioned stimulus responses that persisted without the companion. Social buffering of fear thus switches the conditioned stimulus from encoding “fear” to “safety” by oxytocin-mediated recruitment of a distinct group of central amygdala “buffer neurons”.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45626-z |
| spellingShingle | Chloe Hegoburu Yan Tang Ruifang Niu Supriya Ghosh Rodrigo Triana Del Rio Isabel de Araujo Salgado Marios Abatis David Alexandre Mota Caseiro Erwin H. van den Burg Christophe Grundschober Ron Stoop Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity Nature Communications |
| title | Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity |
| title_full | Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity |
| title_fullStr | Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity |
| title_short | Social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity |
| title_sort | social buffering in rats reduces fear by oxytocin triggering sustained changes in central amygdala neuronal activity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45626-z |
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