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조회142

기초과학연구원

Nat. Commun., Published: 24 February 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57230-w Cortical representations of affective pain shape empathic fear in male mice

Jiye Choi¹, Young-Beom Lee¹, Dahm So^1,2, Jee Yeon Kim1, Sungjoon Choi¹, Sowon Kim¹ & Sehoon Keum¹

¹Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34126, South Korea.
²Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, South Korea.

Corresponding author
Correspondence to Sehoon Keum.

Abstract

Affect sharing, the ability to vicariously feel others’ emotions, constitutes the primary component of empathy. However, the neural basis for encoding others’ distress and representing shared affective experiences remains poorly understood. Here, using miniature endoscopic calcium imaging, we identify distinct and dynamic neural ensembles in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) that encode observational fear across both excitatory and inhibitory neurons in male mice. Notably, we discover that the population dynamics encoding vicarious freezing information are conserved in ACC pyramidal neurons and are specifically represented by affective, rather than sensory, responses to direct pain experience. Furthermore, using circuit-specific imaging and optogenetic manipulations, we demonstrate that distinct populations of ACC neurons projecting to the periaqueductal gray (PAG), but not to the basolateral amygdala (BLA), selectively convey affective pain information and regulate observational fear. Taken together, our findings highlight the critical role of ACC neural representations in shaping empathic freezing through the encoding of affective pain.

논문정보

형식Research article
게재일2025년 02월 (BRIC 등록일 2025-02-25)
연구진국내 연구진
분야 생명과학 > 신경생물학

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