08.09.

2020 Researchers d scover a spec f c bra n c rcu t damaged by soc al solat on dur ng ch ldhood: Study n m ce shows long-last ng effects…

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Researchers d scover a spec f c bra n c rcu t damaged by soc al

solat on dur ng ch ldhood
Study n m ce shows long-last ng effects and po nts the way to potent al treatments

Date: August 31, 2020

Source: The Mount S na Hosp tal / Mount S na School of Med c ne

Summary: Researchers have dent f ed spec f c sub-populat ons of bra n cells n the prefrontal cortex, a key
part of the bra n that regulates soc al behav or, that are requ red for normal soc ab l ty n
adulthood and are profoundly vulnerable to juven le soc al solat on n m ce.

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Person and shadow, lonel ness concept (stock mage).

Cred t: © Jorm S / stock.adobe.com

magnify-abartmak,büyülenmek

Lonel ness s recogn zed as a ser ous threat to mental health. Even as our world
becomes ncreas ngly connected over d g tal platforms, young people n our soc ety
are feel ng a grow ng sense of solat on. The COVID-19 pandem c, wh ch forced many
countr es to mplement soc al d stanc ng and school closures, magn f es the need for
understand ng the mental health consequences of soc al solat on and lonel ness.
Wh le research has shown that soc al solat on dur ng ch ldhood, n part cular, s
detr mental to adult bra n funct on and behav or across mammal an spec es, the
underly ng neural c rcu t mechan sms have rema ned poorly understood.
tam olarak anlaşılmamış olarak kalmış

A research team from the Icahn School of Med c ne at Mount S na has now dent f ed spec f c sub-populat ons
of bra n cells n the prefrontal cortex, a key part of the bra n that regulates soc al behav or, that are requ red for
normal soc ab l ty n adulthood and are profoundly vulnerable to juven le soc al solat on n m ce. The study
f nd ngs, wh ch appear n the August 31 ssue of Nature Neurosc ence, shed l ght on a prev ously unrecogn zed
koruyan
role of these cells, known as med al prefrontal cortex neurons project ng to the paraventr cular thalamus, the
bildirmek
bra n area that relays s gnals to var ous components of the bra n's reward c rcu try. If the f nd ng s repl cated n
humans, t could lead to treatments for psych atr c d sorders connected to solat on.

"In add t on to dent fy ng th s spec f c c rcu t n the prefrontal cortex that s part cularly vulnerable to soc al
solat on dur ng ch ldhood, we also demonstrated that the vulnerable c rcu t we dent f ed s a prom s ng target
for treatments of soc al behav or def c ts," says H rofum Mor sh ta, MD, PhD, Assoc ate Professor of
Psych atry, Neurosc ence, and Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Med c ne at Mount S na , a faculty

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08.09.2020 Researchers d scover a spec f c bra n c rcu t damaged by soc al solat on dur ng ch ldhood: Study n m ce shows long-last ng effects…

member of The Fr edman Bra n Inst tute and the M nd ch Ch ld Health and Development Inst tute, and sen or
author of the paper. "Through st mulat on of the spec f c prefrontal c rcu t project ng to the thalam c area n
adulthood, we were able to rescue the soc ab l ty def c ts caused by juven le soc al solat on."

Spec f cally, the team found that, n male m ce, two weeks of soc al solat on mmed ately follow ng wean ng
leads to a fa lure to act vate med al prefrontal cortex neurons project ng to the paraventr cular thalamus dur ng
heyecanlanma
soc al exposure n adulthood. Researchers found that juven le solat on led to both reduced exc tab l ty of the
prefrontal neurons project ng to the paraventr cular thalamus and ncreased nh b tory nput from other related
neurons, suggest ng a c rcu t mechan sm underly ng soc ab l ty def c ts caused by juven le soc al solat on. To
determ ne whether acute restorat on of the act v ty of prefrontal project ons to the paraventr cular thalamus s
iyileştirme
suff c ent to amel orate soc ab l ty def c ts n adult m ce that underwent juven le soc al solat on, the team olanak
employed a techn que known as optogenet cs to select vely st mulate the prefrontal project ons to vermek
paraventr cular thalamus. The researchers also used chemogenet cs n the r study. Wh le optogenet cs enables
researchers to st mulate part cular neurons n freely mov ng an mals w th pulses of l ght, chemogenet cs allows
müdahalesiz
non- nvas ve chem cal control over cell populat ons. By employ ng both of these techn ques, the researchers
were able to qu ckly ncrease soc al nteract on n these m ce once l ght pulses or drugs were adm n stered to
them.
den önce
"We checked the presence of soc al behav or def c ts just pr or to st mulat on and when we checked the
behav or wh le the st mulat on was ongo ng, we found that the soc al behav or def c ts were reversed," sa d Dr.
Mor sh ta.

G ven that soc al behav or def c ts are a common d mens on of many neurodevelopmental and psych atr c
d sorders, such as aut sm and sch zophren a, dent f cat on of these spec f c prefrontal neurons w ll po nt
toward therapeut c targets for the mprovement of soc al behav or def c ts shared across a range of psych atr c
ayarlanmış
d sorders. The c rcu ts dent f ed n th s study could potent ally be modulated us ng techn ques l ke transcran al
magnet c st mulat on and/or transcran al d rect current st mulat on.

Th s work was supported by grants from the Nat onal Inst tutes of Health and the Nat onal Inst tute of Mental
Health and The S mons Foundat on.

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