Rescue-like behavior in a bystander mouse toward anesthetized conspecifics promotes arousal via a tongue-brain connection.

ABSTRACT: Prosocial behaviors are advantageous to social species, but the neural mechanism(s) through which others receive benefit remain unknown. Here, we found that bystander mice display rescue-like behavior (tongue dragging) toward anesthetized cagemates and found that this tongue dragging promotes arousal from anesthesia through a direct tongue-brain circuit. We found that a direct circuit from the tongue → glutamatergic neurons in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MTN^Glu) → noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC^NE) drives rapid arousal in the anesthetized mice that receive the rescue-like behavior from bystanders. Artificial inhibition of this circuit abolishes the rapid arousal effect induced by the rescue-like behavior. Further, we revealed that glutamater

SUBMITTER: Cao P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11753405 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature