Dataset of Social buffering switches fear to safety encoding by oxytocin recruitment of central amygdala buffer neurons

Dataset of Hegoburu et al., Social buffering switches fear to safety encoding by oxytocin recruitment of central amygdala buffer neurons, Nature Communications.

ABSTRACT

The presence of a companion can reduce fear, but the precise neural mechanisms underlying this social buffering of fear (SBF) are incompletely known. We studied SBF in male and female rats, and its encoding in the amygdala of males, that were fear-conditioned (FC) to auditory conditioned stimuli (CS). Pharmacological, opto,- and/or chemogenetic interventions showed that oxytocin (OT) signaling from hypothalamus-to-central amygdala (CeA) projections was required for acute fear reduction in the presence, and SBF retention 24h later without the companion. Single-unit recordings with optetrodes revealed fear-encoding CeA neurons (characterized by increased CS-responses after FC) were inhibited by SBF and blue light (BL) stimulation of OTergic projections. Other CeA neurons increased CS responses only after SBF exposure. Their baseline activity was enhanced by BL and exposure to the companion. SBF thus switches the CS from encoding "fear" to "safety" by OT-mediated recruitment of a distinct group of CeA "buffer neurons".