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History of Winning Remodels Thalamo-PFC Circuit to Reinforce Social Dominance
Zhou Tingting1,2,3, Hu Hailan1,4*
1Center for Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry Health of China, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; 2Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; 3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; 4Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology, Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Abstract: 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.
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