Hypothalamic neurons that mirror aggression

Taehong Yang; Daniel W Bayless; Yichao Wei; Dan Landayan; Ivo M Marcelo; Yangpeng Wang; Laura A DeNardo; Liqun Luo; Shaul Druckmann; Nirao M Shah

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.022

Hypothalamic neurons that mirror aggression

Cell. 2023 Mar 16;186(6):1195-1211.e19. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.022. Epub 2023 Feb 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
² Champalimaud Neuroscience Program, Champalimaud Center for the Unknown, 1400-038 Lisbon, Portugal; Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
³ Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: nirao@stanford.edu.

Abstract

Social interactions require awareness and understanding of the behavior of others. Mirror neurons, cells representing an action by self and others, have been proposed to be integral to the cognitive substrates that enable such awareness and understanding. Mirror neurons of the primate neocortex represent skilled motor tasks, but it is unclear if they are critical for the actions they embody, enable social behaviors, or exist in non-cortical regions. We demonstrate that the activity of individual VMHvl^PR neurons in the mouse hypothalamus represents aggression performed by self and others. We used a genetically encoded mirror-TRAP strategy to functionally interrogate these aggression-mirroring neurons. We find that their activity is essential for fighting and that forced activation of these cells triggers aggressive displays by mice, even toward their mirror image. Together, we have discovered a mirroring center in an evolutionarily ancient region that provides a subcortical cognitive substrate essential for a social behavior.

Keywords: FosTRAP; TRAP2; VMHvl; aggression; cognition; emotion; fiber photometry; miniscope; mirror neurons; social behavior; social cognition; tail rattle; ventromedial hypothalamus.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aggression* / physiology
Animals
Hypothalamus* / cytology
Mice
Mirror Neurons*
Social Behavior

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding