Replication Data for: Self-experience of an aversive event modulates responses to other stressed mice in a medial prefrontal CRF-dependent manner

Matlab code and data underlying all the figures appearing in the related scientific article. Article abstract: Our own experience of emotional events influences how we approach and react to others’ emotions. Here, we observe that mice exhibit divergent inter-individual responses to others in stress, i.e. preference or avoidance, only if they have previously experienced the same aversive condition. These responses are estrus-dependent in females and dominance-dependent in males. Notably, silencing the expression of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) attenuates the impact of stress self-experience on the reaction to others’ stress. In vivo microendoscopic calcium imaging revealed that mPFC-CRF neurons are activated more towards others’ stress only following the same negative self-experience. Optogenetic manipulations confirmed that higher activation of mPFC-CRF neurons is responsible for the switch from preference to avoidance of others in stress, but only following stress self-experience. These results provide a neurobiological substrate underlying how an individual’s emotional experience influences their approach towards others in a negative emotional state.