Involvement of prelimbic cortex neurons and related circuits in the acquisition of a cooperative learning by pairs of rats.

ABSTRACT: Social behaviors such as cooperation are crucial for mammals. A deeper knowledge of the neuronal mechanisms underlying cooperation can be beneficial for people suffering from pathologies with impaired social behavior. Our aim was to study the brain activity when two animals synchronize their behavior to obtain a mutual reinforcement. In a previous work, we showed that the activity of the prelimbic cortex (PrL) was enhanced during cooperation in rats, especially in the ones leading most cooperative trials (leader rats). In this study, we investigated the specific cells in the PrL contributing to cooperative behaviors. To this end, we collected rats' brains at key moments of the learning process to analyze the levels of c-FOS expression in the main cellular groups of the PrL. Leade

SUBMITTER: Conde-Moro AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11564578 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature