Evolutionarily conserved role of oxytocin in social fear contagion in zebrafish

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Akinrinade, Ibukun; Kareklas, Kyriacos; Teles, Magda C.; Reis, Thais K.; Gliksberg, Michael; Petri, Giovanni; Levkowitz, Gil; Oliveira, Rui F.
• 署名单位: Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia; Weizmann Institute of Science; Weizmann Institute of Science; Instituto Superior Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA); Instituto Universitario de Lisboa; Fundacao Champalimaud; University of Calgary
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8446
• DOI: 10.1126/science.abq5158
• 发表日期: 2023-03-24
• 页码: 1232-1237
• 关键词: consolation behavior; RECOGNITION; empathy

摘要

Emotional contagion is the most ancestral form of empathy. We tested to what extent the proximate mechanisms of emotional contagion are evolutionarily conserved by assessing the role of oxytocin, known to regulate empathic behaviors in mammals, in social fear contagion in zebrafish. Using oxytocin and oxytocin receptor mutants, we show that oxytocin is both necessary and sufficient for observer zebrafish to imitate the distressed behavior of conspecific demonstrators. The brain regions associated with emotional contagion in zebrafish are homologous to those involved in the same process in rodents (e.g., striatum, lateral septum), receiving direct projections from oxytocinergic neurons located in the pre-optic area. Together, our results support an evolutionary conserved role for oxytocin as a key regulator of basic empathic behaviors across vertebrates.