Oxytocin Enhances Social Recognition by Modulating Cortical Control of Early Olfactory Processing.
Oxytocin promotes social interactions and recognition of conspecifics that rely on olfaction in most species. The circuit mechanisms through which oxytocin modifies olfactory processing are incompletely understood. Here, we observed that optogenetically induced oxytocin release enhanced olfactory exploration and same-sex recognition of adult rats. Consistent with oxytocin's function in the anterior olfactory cortex, particularly in social cue processing, region-selective receptor deletion impaired social recognition but left odor discrimination and recognition intact outside a social context. Oxytocin transiently increased the drive of the anterior olfactory cortex projecting to olfactory bulb interneurons. Cortical top-down recruitment of interneurons dynamically enhanced the inhibitory input to olfactory bulb projection neurons and increased the signal-to-noise of their output. In summary, oxytocin generates states for optimized information extraction in an early cortical top-down network that is required for social interactions with potential implications for sensory processing deficits in autism spectrum disorders.
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
Lars-Lennart
LL
Oettl
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
Namasivayam
N
Ravi
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
Miriam
M
Schneider
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
Max F
MF
Scheller
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
Peggy
P
Schneider
Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Mariela
M
Mitre
Schaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Miriam
M
da Silva Gouveia
Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Robert C
RC
Froemke
Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Moses V
MV
Chao
Section on Neural Gene Expression, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
W Scott
WS
Young
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
Andreas
A
Meyer-Lindenberg
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany; Schaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Valery
V
Grinevich
Sagol Department of Neurobiology, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Roman
R
Shusterman
Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany. Electronic address: wolfgang.kelsch@zi-mannheim.de.
Wolfgang
W
Kelsch
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000502:physiology*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000378:metabolism*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior
D010121:Oxytocin
anterior olfactory nucleus; centrifugal; granule cells; mitral cells