title: Prefrontal cortical control of a brainstem social behavior circuit.
abstract: The prefrontal cortex helps adjust an organism's behavior to its environment. In particular, numerous studies have implicated the prefrontal cortex in the control of social behavior, but the neural circuits that mediate these effects remain unknown. Here we investigated behavioral adaptation to social defeat in mice and uncovered a critical contribution of neural projections from the medial prefrontal cortex to the dorsal periaqueductal gray, a brainstem area vital for defensive responses. Social defeat caused a weakening of functional connectivity between these two areas, and selective inhibition of these projections mimicked the behavioral effects of social defeat. These findings define a specific neural projection by which the prefrontal cortex can control and adapt social behavior.
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.|Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
authors.forename: Tamara B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Bianca A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Zinaida
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Perova
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Livia
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0813-1350
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marrone
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Masferrer
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.|Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Angie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Greetham
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Violaine
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Verrechia
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halman
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3796-2409
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pagella
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zürich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alexei L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Vyssotski
authors.affiliation: Schaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Cell Network Cluster of Excellence, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Illarionova
authors.affiliation: Schaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Cell Network Cluster of Excellence, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Valery
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grinevich
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Tiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Branco
authors.affiliation: Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Cornelius T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Gross
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D023421:Models, Animal; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior