Insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to social affective stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Social animals detect the affective states of conspecifics and utilize this information to orchestrate social interactions. In a social affective preference text in which experimental adult male rats could interact with either naive or stressed conspecifics, the experimental rats either approached or avoided the stressed conspecific, depending upon the age of the conspecific. Specifically, experimental rats approached stressed juveniles but avoided stressed adults. Inhibition of insular cortex, which is implicated in social cognition, and blockade of insular oxytocin receptors disrupted the social affective behaviors. Oxytocin application increased intrinsic excitability and synaptic efficacy in acute insular cortex slices, and insular oxytocin administration recapitulated the behaviors ob

SUBMITTER: Rogers-Carter MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6051351 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature