Biological neural network

Dopaminergic

Psychology

Neuroscience

Cognition

Consumer neuroscience

Anterior cingulate cortex

Social defeat

Ventral tegmental area

Periaqueductal gray

Prefrontal cortex

Dopamine

Central nervous system

Brainstem

Midbrain

Nature Neuroscience

The prefrontal cortex helps adjust an organism's behavior to its environment. In particular, numerous studies have implicated the prefrontal cortex in the control of social behavior, but the neural circuits that mediate these effects remain unknown. Here we investigated behavioral adaptation to social defeat in mice and uncovered a critical contribution of neural projections from the medial prefrontal cortex to the dorsal periaqueductal gray, a brainstem area vital for defensive responses. Social defeat caused a weakening of functional connectivity between these two areas, and selective inhibition of these projections mimicked the behavioral effects of social defeat. These findings define a specific neural projection by which the prefrontal cortex can control and adapt social behavior.

Prefrontal cortical control of a brainstem social behavior circuit