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Hippocampal oxytocin receptors are necessary for discrimination of social stimuli

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  • Tara Raam

    (Massachusetts General Hospital
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute
    Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
    Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School)

  • Kathleen M. McAvoy

    (Massachusetts General Hospital
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute
    Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School)

  • Antoine Besnard

    (Massachusetts General Hospital
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute
    Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School)

  • Alexa H. Veenema

    (Michigan State University)

  • Amar Sahay

    (Massachusetts General Hospital
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute
    Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
    Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School)

Abstract

Oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) signaling in neural circuits mediating discrimination of social stimuli and affiliation or avoidance behavior is thought to guide social recognition. Remarkably, the physiological functions of Oxtrs in the hippocampus are not known. Here we demonstrate using genetic and pharmacological approaches that Oxtrs in the anterior dentate gyrus (aDG) and anterior CA2/CA3 (aCA2/CA3) of mice are necessary for discrimination of social, but not non-social, stimuli. Further, Oxtrs in aCA2/CA3 neurons recruit a population-based coding mechanism to mediate social stimuli discrimination. Optogenetic terminal-specific attenuation revealed a critical role for aCA2/CA3 outputs to posterior CA1 for discrimination of social stimuli. In contrast, aCA2/CA3 projections to aCA1 mediate discrimination of non-social stimuli. These studies identify a role for an aDG-CA2/CA3 axis of Oxtr expressing cells in discrimination of social stimuli and delineate a pathway relaying social memory computations in the anterior hippocampus to the posterior hippocampus to guide social recognition.

Suggested Citation

  • Tara Raam & Kathleen M. McAvoy & Antoine Besnard & Alexa H. Veenema & Amar Sahay, 2017. "Hippocampal oxytocin receptors are necessary for discrimination of social stimuli," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-02173-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02173-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Susan E. Erdman, 2021. "Microbial Muses: Threads of Our Inner Wisdom," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-4, March.

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