Cell
Volume 171, Issue 7, 14 December 2017, Pages 1663-1677.e16
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Article
Combined Social and Spatial Coding in a Descending Projection from the Prefrontal Cortex

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.11.002Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Distinct subpopulations of prelimbic (PL) neurons project to the NAc, Amyg, and VTA

  • Continuous activation of PL-NAc, but not PL-Amyg or PL-VTA, decreases social preference

  • PL-NAc neurons encode a conjunction of social and spatial information

  • PL-NAc neurons bidirectionally modulate social-spatial learning

Summary

Social behaviors are crucial to all mammals. Although the prelimbic cortex (PL, part of medial prefrontal cortex) has been implicated in social behavior, it is not clear which neurons are relevant or how they contribute. We found that PL contains anatomically and molecularly distinct subpopulations that target three downstream regions that have been implicated in social behavior: the nucleus accumbens (NAc), amygdala, and ventral tegmental area. Activation of NAc-projecting PL neurons (PL-NAc), but not the other subpopulations, decreased the preference for a social target. To determine what information PL-NAc neurons convey, we selectively recorded from them and found that individual neurons were active during social investigation, but only in specific spatial locations. Spatially specific manipulation of these neurons bidirectionally regulated the formation of a social-spatial association. Thus, the unexpected combination of social and spatial information within the PL-NAc may contribute to social behavior by supporting social-spatial learning.

Keywords

social behavior
medial prefrontal cortex
nucleus accumbens
calcium imaging
optogenetics

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