2. Academic Validation
  3. Ucn3 and CRF-R2 in the medial amygdala regulate complex social dynamics

Ucn3 and CRF-R2 in the medial amygdala regulate complex social dynamics

  • Nat Neurosci. 2016 Nov;19(11):1489-1496. doi: 10.1038/nn.4346.
Yair Shemesh 1 2,  Oren Forkosh 1 2,  Mathias Mahn 1,  Sergey Anpilov 1 2,  Yehezkel Sztainberg 1,  Sharon Manashirov 1 2,  Tamar Shlapobersky 1 2,  Evan Elliott 3,  Laure Tabouy 3,  Gili Ezra 1 2,  Elaine S Adler 1 2,  Yair J Ben-Efraim 1 2,  Shosh Gil 1 2,  Yael Kuperman 4,  Sharon Haramati 1,  Julien Dine 2,  Matthias Eder 2,  Jan M Deussing 2,  Elad Schneidman 1,  Ofer Yizhar 1,  Alon Chen 1 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
  • 2 Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
  • 3 Faculty of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, Safed, Israel.
  • 4 Department of Veterinary Resources, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
PMID: 27428651 DOI: 10.1038/nn.4346
Abstract

Social encounters are associated with varying degrees of emotional arousal and stress. The mechanisms underlying adequate socioemotional balance are unknown. The medial amygdala (MeA) is a brain region associated with social behavior in mice. Corticotropin-releasing factor receptor type-2 (CRF-R2) and its specific ligand urocortin-3 (Ucn3), known components of the behavioral stress response system, are highly expressed in the MeA. Here we show that mice deficient in CRF-R2 or Ucn3 exhibit abnormally low preference for novel conspecifics. MeA-specific knockdown of CRFR2 (Crhr2) in adulthood recapitulated this phenotype. In contrast, pharmacological activation of MeA CRF-R2 or optogenetic activation of MeA Ucn3 neurons increased preference for novel mice. Furthermore, chemogenetic inhibition of MeA Ucn3 neurons elicited pro-social behavior in freely behaving groups of mice without affecting their hierarchal structure. These findings collectively suggest that the MeA Ucn3-CRF-R2 system modulates the ability of mice to cope with social challenges.

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