Fig. 2: Social discrimination deficit in BWT mice is associated with aberrant activation of hippocampal dCA3. | Molecular Psychiatry

Fig. 2: Social discrimination deficit in BWT mice is associated with aberrant activation of hippocampal dCA3.

From: A short period of early life oxytocin treatment rescues social behavior dysfunction via suppression of hippocampal hyperactivity in male mice

Fig. 2

a Schematic of c-Fos analysis after social discrimination test. b Representative images of c-Fos expression. Scale bars, 50 μm. c Quantification of the numbers of cells expressing c-Fos. N = 4 mice, each group; P = 0.0286, Mann–Whitney test. d Diagram showing the tetrode recording strategy. Control: n = 35 neurons from 5 mice; BWT: n = 71 neurons from 8 mice. e–h Tetrode recording of interaction with the familiar mouse. e, f Heatmaps of normalized z-scored activity (e and f upper), average activity (e and f middle) and relative proportions of neurons (e and f lower). g, h Mean population activity (area under the z-score curve) before, during (g, Control: P = 0.4413; BWT: P = 0.0008), and after (h, Control: P = 0.1227; BWT: P = 0.0943) social interaction. Each group, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test. i–l Tetrode recording of interaction with the stranger mouse. i, j Heatmaps of normalized z-scored activity (i and j upper), average activity (i and j middle) and relative proportions of neurons (i and j lower). k, l Mean population activity (area under the z-score curve) before, during (k, Control: P = 0.5014; BWT: P = < 0.0001), and after (l, Control: P = 0.1898; BWT: P < 0.0001) social interaction. Each group, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test. m, n The normalized firing rate of recorded neurons related to where social interaction began (m, familiar: P = 0.0034; Stranger: P = 0.0209) and ended (n, familiar: P = 0.0261; Stranger: P = 0.0004). Each group, Mann–Whitney U test. o Representative mEPSC recordings from control mice (upper) and BWT mice (lower). p, q mEPSC frequencies (p, P = 0.0009, Mann–Whitney U test) and mEPSC amplitudes (q, P = 0.0053, unpaired t-test). Control, n = 13 neurons from 4 mice; BWT, n = 12 neurons from 4 mice. r Sample images showing the morphology of dendritic spines. Scale bar, 10 μm. s The spine density of BWT mice was significantly increased. Control: n = 34 neurons from 6 mice; BWT: n = 31 neurons from 6 mice; P = 0.0079, unpaired t-test. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; NS, not significant. Error bars indicate SEM.

Back to article page