How do lateral septum projections to the ventral CA1 influence sociability?

Dan Wang; Di Zhao; Wentao Wang; Fengai Hu; Minghu Cui; Jing Liu; Fantao Meng; Cuilan Liu; Changyun Qiu; Dunjiang Liu; Zhicheng Xu; Yameng Wang; Yu Zhang; Wei Li; Chen Li

doi:10.4103/1673-5374.389304

How do lateral septum projections to the ventral CA1 influence sociability?

Neural Regen Res. 2024 Aug 1;19(8):1789-1801. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.389304. Epub 2023 Nov 8.

Authors

Dan Wang^{1

2

3

4}, Di Zhao^{1

2

3

4}, Wentao Wang^{1

2

3

4}, Fengai Hu^{1

2

3

4}, Minghu Cui^{2

3

4}, Jing Liu^{1

2

3

4}, Fantao Meng^{1

2

3

4}, Cuilan Liu^{1

2

3

4}, Changyun Qiu^{1

2

3

4}, Dunjiang Liu^{1

2

3

4}, Zhicheng Xu^{1

2

3

4}, Yameng Wang^{1

2

3

4}, Yu Zhang^{2

5}, Wei Li^{1

2

3}, Chen Li^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.
² Medical Research Center, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.
³ Institute for Metabolic & Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.
⁵ College of Nursing, Binzhou Medical University, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.

Abstract

JOURNAL/nrgr/04.03/01300535-202408000-00033/figure1/v/2023-12-16T180322Z/r/image-tiff Social dysfunction is a risk factor for several neuropsychiatric illnesses. Previous studies have shown that the lateral septum (LS)-related pathway plays a critical role in mediating social behaviors. However, the role of the connections between the LS and its downstream brain regions in social behaviors remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a three-chamber test using electrophysiological and chemogenetic approaches in mice to determine how LS projections to ventral CA1 (vCA1) influence sociability. Our results showed that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurons were activated following social experience, and that social behaviors were enhanced by chemogenetic modulation of these neurons. Moreover, LS GABAergic neurons extended their functional neural connections via vCA1 glutamatergic pyramidal neurons, and regulating LSGABA→vCA1Glu neural projections affected social behaviors, which were impeded by suppressing LS-projecting vCA1 neuronal activity or inhibiting GABAA receptors in vCA1. These findings support the hypothesis that LS inputs to the vCA1 can control social preferences and social novelty behaviors. These findings provide new insights regarding the neural circuits that regulate sociability.

Grants and funding

Funding:This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82171521 (to CL); the Special Funds of Taishan Scholars Project of Shandong Province, No. tsqn202211368 (to CL); the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, Nos. ZR2022YQ65 (to CL), ZR2021MH073 (to CL), and ZR2019PH109 (to WW); the Projects of Medical and Health Technology Development Program in Shandong Province, China, Nos. 202003090720 (to DZ), 202003070728 (to JL), and 2019WS329 (to DW), and the Scientific Research Foundation of Binzhou Medical University, No. BY2018KJ21 (to DW).