Cited by 292Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorMemory and Neural MechanismsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Hippocampal oxytocin receptors are necessary for discrimination of social stimuli

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Raam, Tara, McAvoy, Kathleen M., Besnard, Antoine, Veenema, Alexa H., Sahay, Amar·2017·Nature Communications

Abstract

Oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) signaling in neural circuits mediating discrimination of social stimuli and affiliation or avoidance behavior is thought to guide social recognition. Remarkably, the physiological functions of Oxtrs in the hippocampus are not known. Here we demonstrate using genetic and pharmacological approaches that Oxtrs in the anterior dentate gyrus (aDG) and anterior CA2/CA3 (aCA2/CA3) of mice are necessary for discrimination of social, but not non-social, stimuli. Further, Oxtrs in aCA2/CA3 neurons recruit a population-based coding mechanism to mediate social stimuli discrimination. Optogenetic terminal-specific attenuation revealed a critical role for aCA2/CA3 outputs to posterior CA1 for discrimination of social stimuli. In contrast, aCA2/CA3 projections to aCA1 mediate discrimination of non-social stimuli. These studies identify a role for an aDG-CA2/CA3 axis of Oxtr expressing cells in discrimination of social stimuli and delineate a pathway relaying social memory computations in the anterior hippocampus to the posterior hippocampus to guide social recognition.

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  • OXTRs in the anterior DG-CA2/CA3 circuit facilitate social, but not object discrimination, and vasopressin projections from the paraventricular nucleus to the hippocampus influence recognition of conspecifics as well as spatial features in mice.

    “OXTRs in the anterior DG-CA2/ CA3 circuit facilitate social, but not object discrimination (101), and AVP projections from PVN to hippocampus influence recognition of conspecifics as well as spatial features in mice (102).”
  • In mice, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and medial amygdala vasopressin cells are active during male sexual behavior and knockdown of vasopressin within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduced the number of intromissions and ejaculations in males, but did not alter sexual behavior in females.

    “In mice, BNST and MeA AVP cells are active during male sexual behavior (101, 119) and knockdown of AVP within the BNST reduced the number of intromissions and ejaculations in males, but did not alter sexual behavior in females (91).”
  • Oxytocin has a well-established role in social behaviors and social recognition.

    “and the well-established role of oxytocin in social behaviors and social recognition (13, 21, 34; 39-44).”

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Authors
Raam, T., McAvoy, K. M., Besnard, A., Veenema, A. H., & Sahay, A.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Michigan State University (US)
  • Broad Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Sahay, Amar
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2017-12-08
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
2001-2001
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2772417881
Cited by
292
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 26
FWCI
33.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Ellison Medical Foundation
  • National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Harvard Stem Cell Institute
  • National Institute on Aging (RF1AG048908)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH104175, R01MH111729)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
oxytocin receptor, hippocampus, social recognition, CA1, population coding, social memory, optogenetic manipulation
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Discrimination, Psychological, Hippocampus, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Neural Pathways, Neurons, Social Behavior, Receptors, Oxytocin, Mice, Knockout, Models, Animal, Mice, Optogenetics

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