Optogenetic manipulation of dyadic dam-pup prefrontal cortical activity to modulate social interactions

• Main Author: Lim, Megan
• Other Authors: Victoria Leong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Optogenetic mice model; Inter-neural synchrony; Mother-child interactions
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175771
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There is emerging evidence that parent-child neural synchrony plays a mechanistic role in social, emotional, and cognitive functions such as social attunement, emotional regulation, and learning. However, little is known about the sequelae of synchronisation of brain oscillations in parent and child and whether neural synchrony potentially has a causal role in modulating social behaviours. Mice models offer a promising avenue for investigating these gaps in literature given the availability of tools such as optogenetics to manipulate neural activity. Hence, this study aims to investigate how synchronisation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of dams and pups might influence their social behaviours. An optogenetic mouse model was utilised to allow for precise control of concurrent activation of the mPFC at 40Hz-40Hz frequency in freely interacting dyads. Overall, synchronised stimulation of dyads resulted in significantly longer durations of some social behaviours, e.g., close proximity, and higher likelihoods of dam-pup interactions. These findings contribute to the theoretical advancement of two-person neuroscience and highlight important directions for future research in child development. This study provides supporting evidence that neural synchrony can causally modulate specific social interactions, and increased synchronisation within dyads leads to increased likelihood and duration of social interactions.