Separable dorsal raphe dopamine projections mimic the facets of a loneliness-like state.

ABSTRACT: Affiliative social connections facilitate well-being and survival in numerous species. Engaging in social interactions requires positive or negative motivational drive, elicited through coordinated activity across neural circuits. However, the identity, interconnectivity, and functional encoding of social information within these circuits remains poorly understood. Here, we focus on downstream projections of dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) dopamine neurons (DRN^DAT) in mice, which we previously implicated in social motivation alongside an aversive affective state. We show that three prominent DRN^DAT projections - to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), central amygdala (CeA), and posterior basolateral amygdala (BLP) - play separable roles in behavior, despite sub

SUBMITTER: Lee CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12316461 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature