Superior Colliculus to VTA pathway controls orienting response and influences social interaction in mice

Clément Solié, Alessandro Contestabile, Pedro Espinosa, Stefano Musardo, Sebastiano Bariselli, Chieko Huber, Alan Carleton and Camilla Bellone ()
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Clément Solié: University of Geneva
Alessandro Contestabile: University of Geneva
Pedro Espinosa: University of Geneva
Stefano Musardo: University of Geneva
Sebastiano Bariselli: University of Geneva
Chieko Huber: University of Geneva
Alan Carleton: University of Geneva
Camilla Bellone: University of Geneva

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Social behaviours characterize cooperative, mutualistic, aggressive or parental interactions that occur among conspecifics. Although the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) has been identified as a key substrate for social behaviours, the input and output pathways dedicated to specific aspects of conspecific interaction remain understudied. Here, in male mice, we investigated the activity and function of two distinct VTA inputs from superior colliculus (SC-VTA) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC-VTA). We observed that SC-VTA neurons display social interaction anticipatory calcium activity, which correlates with orienting responses towards an unfamiliar conspecific. In contrast, mPFC-VTA neuron population activity increases after initiation of the social contact. While protracted phasic stimulation of SC-VTA pathway promotes head/body movements and decreases social interaction, inhibition of this pathway increases social interaction. Here, we found that SC afferents mainly target a subpopulation of dorsolateral striatum (DLS)-projecting VTA dopamine (DA) neurons (VTADA-DLS). While, VTADA-DLS pathway stimulation decreases social interaction, VTADA-Nucleus Accumbens stimulation promotes it. Altogether, these data support a model by which at least two largely anatomically distinct VTA sub-circuits oppositely control distinct aspects of social behaviour.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28512-4

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