Impact Factor:

11.7

Journal:

Science Advances

Abstract:

Prosocial behaviors are advantageous to social species, but the neural mechanism(s) through which others receive benefit remain unknown. Here, we found that bystander mice display rescue-like behavior (tongue dragging) toward anesthetized cagemates and found that this tongue dragging promotes arousal from anesthesia through a direct tongue-brain circuit. We found that a direct circuit from the tongue → glutamatergic neurons in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MTNGlu) → noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LCNE) drives rapid arousal in the anesthetized mice that receive the rescue-like behavior from bystanders. Artificial inhibition of this circuit abolishes the rapid arousal effect induced by the rescue-like behavior. Further, we revealed that glutamatergic neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVTGlu) that project to the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) mediate the rescue-like behavior. These findings reveal a tongue-brain connection underlying the rapid arousal effects induced by rescue-like behavior and the circuit basis governing this specific form of prosocial behavior.

Note:

Science期刊评述文章（PERSPECTIVE）引用评述； Scientific Amercian（科学美国人）、New Scientisit（新科学家）等媒体报道；

First Author:

Peng Cao, Ying Liu, Ziyun Ni, Mingjun Zhang

Co-author:

Hong-Rui Wei, An Liu, Jin-Rong Guo, Yumeng Yang, Zheng Xu, Yuyu Guo

Indexed by:

Journal paper

Correspondence Author:

Zhi Zhang, Wenjuan Tao, Likui Wang

Volume:

11

Issue:

4

Page Number:

eadq3874

Translation or Not:

no

Date of Publication:

2025-01-22

Included Journals:

SCI

Links to published journals:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq3874?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed