Cell Reports
Volume 27, Issue 12, 18 June 2019, Pages 3460-3472.e3
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Article
Neuronal Responses to Conspecifics in the Ventral CA1

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.081Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Ventral CA1 neurons respond to the presence of conspecifics

  • Response modulation is dependent on the sex and the individual presented

  • Ventral CA1 neurons show little or no response to object presence

  • Ventral CA1 responses are distinct from those of dorsal CA1

Summary

Conspecific recognition and discrimination is a vital aspect of social interactions. Genetic manipulations have implicated the CA2 sub-field and ventral hippocampus in rodent social memory. However, little is known about the nature of hippocampal responses to social signals. We characterized ventral CA1 responses in rats while interacting with conspecifics across a gap. Many cells showed unusual “social presence responses,” i.e., large elevations of firing rates, which were contingent on the presence of a conspecific. Sharp-wave ripple activity was also increased by conspecific presence. The cells were modulated by facial touch and ultrasonic vocalizations. In male rats, female conspecifics evoked stronger responses than males. In addition, responses to females differed more strongly between individual females than between males. Cells showed little response to object presence. Ventral CA1 responses were also markedly different from those of dorsal CA1, where most cells were weakly inhibited by conspecific presence.

Keywords

social responses
ventral hippocampus
vCA1
social interactions
facial touch
ultrasonic vocalizations
multisensory responses
sex discrimination
individual discrimination

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Present address: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, CNS Diseases, Biberach an der Riss, Germany

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