We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Encoding of social exploration by neural ensembles in the insular cortex.
- Authors
Miura, Isamu; Sato, Masaaki; Overton, Eric T. N.; Kunori, Nobuo; Nakai, Junichi; Kawamata, Takakazu; Nakai, Nobuhiro; Takumi, Toru
- Abstract
The insular cortex (IC) participates in diverse complex brain functions, including social function, yet their cellular bases remain to be fully understood. Using microendoscopic calcium imaging of the agranular insular cortex (AI) in mice interacting with freely moving and restrained social targets, we identified 2 subsets of AI neurons—a larger fraction of "Social-ON" cells and a smaller fraction of "Social-OFF" cells—that change their activity in opposite directions during social exploration. Social-ON cells included those that represented social investigation independent of location and consisted of multiple subsets, each of which was preferentially active during exploration under a particular behavioral state or with a particular target of physical contact. These results uncover a previously unknown function of AI neurons that may act to monitor the ongoing status of social exploration while an animal interacts with unfamiliar conspecifics. The insular cortex participates in diverse complex brain functions, including social function, but their cellular basis remains unclear. This study uses microendoscopic calcium imaging in mice interacting with conspecifics to identify "social cells" in the agranular insular cortex; multiple subsets of neurons encode distinct aspects of ongoing social behavior.
- Subjects
INSULAR cortex; SOCIAL skills; SOCIAL status; NEURONS; PHYSICAL contact
- Publication
PLoS Biology, 2020, Vol 18, Issue 9, p1
- ISSN
1544-9173
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.3000584