Social trauma engages lateral septum circuitry to occlude social reward

Abstract

In humans, traumatic social experiences can contribute to psychiatric disorders¹. It is suggested that social trauma impairs brain reward function such that social behaviour is no longer rewarding, leading to severe social avoidance^2,3. In rodents, the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) model has been used to understand the neurobiology underlying stress susceptibility versus resilience following social trauma, yet little is known regarding its impact on social reward^4,5. Here we show that, following CSDS, a subset of male and female mice, termed susceptible (SUS), avoid social interaction with non-aggressive, same-sex juvenile C57BL/6J mice and do not develop context-dependent social reward following encounters with them. Non-social stressors have no effect on social reward in either sex. Next, using whole-brain Fos mapping, in vivo Ca²⁺ imaging and whole-cell recordings, we identified a population of stress/threat-responsive lateral septum neurotensin (NT^LS) neurons that are activated by juvenile social interactions only in SUS mice, but not in resilient or unstressed control mice. Optogenetic or chemogenetic manipulation of NT^LS neurons and their downstream connections modulates social interaction and social reward. Together, these data suggest that previously rewarding social targets are possibly perceived as social threats in SUS mice, resulting from hyperactive NT^LS neurons that occlude social reward processing.