title: Brain serotonin deficiency leads to social communication deficits in mice.
abstract: A deficit in brain serotonin is thought to be associated with deteriorated stress coping behaviour, affective disorders and exaggerated violence. We challenged this hypothesis in mice with a brain-specific serotonin depletion caused by a tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) deficiency. We tested TPH2-deficient (Tph2(-/-)) animals in two social situations. As juveniles, Tph2(-/-) mice displayed reduced social contacts, whereas ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) were unchanged within same-sex same-genotype pairings. Interestingly, juvenile females vocalized more than males across genotypes. Sexually naive adult males were exposed to fresh male or female urine, followed by an interaction with a conspecific, and re-exposed to urine. Although Tph2(-/-) mice showed normal sexual preference, they were hyper-aggressive towards their interaction partners and did not vocalize in response to sexual cues. These results highlight that central serotonin is essential for prosocial behaviour, especially USV production in adulthood, but not for sexual preference.
authors: Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Beis
authors: Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Holzwarth
authors: Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Flinders
authors: Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Bader
authors: Behavioral Neuroscience, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany woehrm@staff.uni-marburg.de.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Wöhr
authors: Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia alenina@mdc-berlin.de.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Alenina
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012701:Serotonin / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000378:metabolism; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D014465:Ultrasonics
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin
keywords: TPH2; aggression; serotonin; social behaviour; ultrasonic vocalization