小柯机器人

浙江大学胡海岚课题组揭示与社会地位丧失相关抑郁样状态的神经机制。2023年1月23日，国际知名学术期刊《细胞》在线发表了这一成果。

通过强迫小鼠在一场非暴力的社会竞赛中输给它们的下属，研究人员稳定地降低了它们的社会等级，并诱导出类似抑郁的行为。这些与排名下降相关的抑郁行为可以通过重新获得社会地位来逆转。体内纤维光度测定和单个单元电生理记录表明，强迫丧失而非自然丧失，产生负奖励预测误差（RPE）。通过外侧下丘脑，RPE强烈激活大脑的反奖励中心：外侧缰核（LHb）。LHb的激活抑制了内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）， 后者控制着社会竞争力，并加强了竞争中的退让。这些结果揭示了相互促进社会地位丧失和抑郁行为的核心神经机制。控制mPFC和LHb活动的交互神经元信号为社会流动和心理障碍之间的相互对话提供了一个机制基础，并揭示了一个有希望的干预靶标。

据了解，向下社会流动是抑郁症的一个众所周知的精神风险因素，但其神经机制仍不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Neural mechanism underlying depressive-like state associated with social status loss

Author: Zhengxiao Fan, Jiarui Chang, Yilan Liang, Hong Zhu, Chaoyi Zhang, Diyang Zheng, Junying Wang, Ying Xu, Qi-Jing Li, Hailan Hu

Issue&Volume: 2023-01-23

Abstract: Downward social mobility is a well-known mental risk factor for depression, but its neural mechanism remains elusive. Here, by forcing mice to lose against their subordinates in a non-violent social contest, we lower their social ranks stably and induce depressive-like behaviors. These rank-decline-associated depressive-like behaviors can be reversed by regaining social status. In vivo fiber photometry and single-unit electrophysiological recording show that forced loss, but not natural loss, generates negative reward prediction error (RPE). Through the lateral hypothalamus, the RPE strongly activates the brain’s anti-reward center, the lateral habenula (LHb). LHb activation inhibits the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) that controls social competitiveness and reinforces retreats in contests. These results reveal the core neural mechanisms mutually promoting social status loss and depressive behaviors. The intertwined neuronal signaling controlling mPFC and LHb activities provides a mechanistic foundation for the crosstalk between social mobility and psychological disorder, unveiling a promising target for intervention.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.033

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01576-8