RRC ID 89665
Author Suto N, Wang MY, Morikawa S, Chung M, Tao K, Huang Z, Ikegaya Y, Takeuchi H, Kira S, Okuyama T.
Title Neural circuits for valence updating in social memory.
Journal Science
Abstract Social animals recognize familiar conspecifics and selectively avoid harmful ones. As social relationships shift, continuous updating of social valence is essential, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Here, by artificially transforming a previously neutral conspecific into an aggressive one, we show that valence updating depends on enhanced synaptic connectivity and physiological changes within the hippocampal ventral CA1 (vCA1)-basolateral amygdala (BLA)-nucleus accumbens (NAc) circuit. Following defeat, social memory engram neurons in the vCA1 strengthened their connections with BLA neurons carrying negative valence. The vCA1-BLA-NAc neural circuit flexibly regulates adaptive social behaviors.
Volume 393(6807)
Pages eadx8231
Published 2026-7-9
DOI 10.1126/science.adx8231
PMID 42424460
MeSH Aggression Animals Basolateral Nuclear Complex* / physiology CA1 Region, Hippocampal* / physiology Male Memory* / physiology Mice Mice, Inbred BALB C Neural Pathways* / physiology Neurons / physiology Nucleus Accumbens* / physiology Social Behavior*
Resource
Mice RBRC10322 RBRC10754