TY - JOUR
T1 - Oxytocin Mediates Entrainment of Sensory Stimuli to Social Cues of Opposing Valence
AU - Choe, Han Kyoung
AU - Reed, Michael Douglas
AU - Benavidez, Nora
AU - Montgomery, Daniel
AU - Soares, Natalie
AU - Yim, Yeong Shin
AU - Choi, Gloria B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - Meaningful social interactions modify behavioral responses to sensory stimuli. The neural mechanisms underlying the entrainment of neutral sensory stimuli to salient social cues to produce social learning remain unknown. We used odor-driven behavioral paradigms to ask if oxytocin, a neuropeptide implicated in various social behaviors, plays a crucial role in the formation of learned associations between odor and socially significant cues. Through genetic, optogenetic, and pharmacological manipulations, we show that oxytocin receptor signaling is crucial for entrainment of odor to social cues but is dispensable for entrainment to nonsocial cues. Furthermore, we demonstrate that oxytocin directly impacts the piriform, the olfactory sensory cortex, to mediate social learning. Lastly, we provide evidence that oxytocin plays a role in both appetitive and aversive social learning. These results suggest that oxytocin conveys saliency of social stimuli to sensory representations in the piriform cortex during odor-driven social learning.
AB - Meaningful social interactions modify behavioral responses to sensory stimuli. The neural mechanisms underlying the entrainment of neutral sensory stimuli to salient social cues to produce social learning remain unknown. We used odor-driven behavioral paradigms to ask if oxytocin, a neuropeptide implicated in various social behaviors, plays a crucial role in the formation of learned associations between odor and socially significant cues. Through genetic, optogenetic, and pharmacological manipulations, we show that oxytocin receptor signaling is crucial for entrainment of odor to social cues but is dispensable for entrainment to nonsocial cues. Furthermore, we demonstrate that oxytocin directly impacts the piriform, the olfactory sensory cortex, to mediate social learning. Lastly, we provide evidence that oxytocin plays a role in both appetitive and aversive social learning. These results suggest that oxytocin conveys saliency of social stimuli to sensory representations in the piriform cortex during odor-driven social learning.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937426826&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.06.022
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.06.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 26139372
AN - SCOPUS:84937426826
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 87
SP - 152
EP - 163
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 1
ER -