| Title: | Social transmission of food safety depends on synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex |
| Author(s): | Loureiro M; Achargui R; Flakowski J; Van Zessen R; Stefanelli T; Pascoli V; Luscher C; |
| Address: | "Department of Basic Neurosciences, Medical Faculty, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Department of Basic Neurosciences, Medical Faculty, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland. christian.luscher@unige.ch. Clinic of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospital, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1095-9203 (Electronic) 0036-8075 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "When an animal is facing unfamiliar food, its odor, together with semiochemicals emanating from a conspecific, can constitute a safety message and authorize intake. The piriform cortex (PiC) codes olfactory information, and the inactivation of neurons in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) can acutely trigger consumption. However, the neural circuit and cellular substrate of transition of olfactory perception into value-based actions remain elusive. We detected enhanced activity after social transmission between two mice in neurons of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) that target the NAc and receive projections from the PiC. Exposure to a conspecific potentiated the excitatory postsynaptic currents in NAc projectors, whereas blocking transmission from PiC to mPFC prevented social transmission. Thus, synaptic plasticity in the mPFC is a cellular substrate of social transmission of food safety" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Food Preferences/*psychology *Food Safety Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL Neuronal Plasticity/*physiology Piriform Cortex/*physiology Prefrontal Cortex/*physiology *Social Behavior;Neuroscience;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineLoureiro, Michael Achargui, Ridouane Flakowski, Jerome Van Zessen, Ruud Stefanelli, Thomas Pascoli, Vincent Luscher, Christian eng ERC_/European Research Council/International 2019/06/07 Science. 2019 Jun 7; 364(6444):991-995. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw5842" |
