PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Caroline L. Wee
AU  - Erin Song
AU  - Maxim Nikitchenko
AU  - Kristian J. Herrera
AU  - Sandy Wong
AU  - Florian Engert
AU  - Sam Kunes
TI  - Social isolation modulates appetite and defensive behavior via a common oxytocinergic circuit in larval zebrafish
AID  - 10.1101/2020.02.19.956854
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.02.19.956854
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/29/2020.02.19.956854.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/29/2020.02.19.956854.full
AB  - Animal brains have evolved to encode social stimuli and transform these representations into advantageous behavioral responses. The commonalities and differences of these representations across species are not well-understood. Here, we show that social isolation activates an oxytocinergic (OXT), nociceptive circuit in the larval zebrafish hypothalamus and that chemical cues released from conspecific animals are potent modulators of this circuit’s activity. We delineate an olfactory to subpallial pathway that transmits chemical social cues to OXT circuitry, where they are transformed into diverse outputs simultaneously regulating defensive and feeding behaviors. Our data allow us to propose a model through which social stimuli are integrated within a fundamental neural circuit to mediate diverse adaptive behaviours.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.