Fear-related behaviors are rigidly controlled by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The mPFC is activated by the prosocial hormone oxytocin, which plays an important role in social buffering. We used a slice patch current-clamp recording in single- and pair-exposed rats who were subjected to electric shocks, to determine the cellular mechanism of the action of oxytocin in the mPFC under social buffering conditions. Pair-exposed rats showed a significant reduction in both freezing and passive avoidance behaviors compared to single-exposed rats. It was observed that input resistance in pyramidal neurons decreased in both single- and pair-exposed rats than naïve rats, but input resistance in interneurons increased in pair-exposed rats than single-exposed rats. We found that the number of action potential (AP) spikes in the mPFC pyramidal neurons decreased significantly in pair-exposed rats than in single-exposed rats. The pyramidal neurons in the mPFC were similarly regulated by oxytocin in singleand pair-exposed rats, while the number of AP spikes in interneurons by oxytocin decreased in single-exposed rats, but there was no significant change in pair-exposed rats. Therefore, our findings reveal that a decrease in mPFC pyramidal neuronal activity in pair-exposed rats through social interaction induces a reduction in fear-related behavior via obstruction of fear-memory formation; however, no such reduction was observed in single-exposed rats. Moreover, we suggest that the oxytocin-mediated decrease in neuronal activity in the mPFC could facilitate social buffering.

中文翻译：

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内侧前额叶皮层神经元和催产素调节在建立社会缓冲中的作用。

与恐惧有关的行为由内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）严格控制。mPFC被亲社会性催产素激活，后者在社会缓冲中起着重要作用。我们使用切片贴片电流钳记录在遭受电击的单暴露和成对暴露的大鼠中，以确定在社会缓冲条件下催产素在mPFC中作用的细胞机制。与单次暴露的大鼠相比，成对暴露的大鼠表现出明显的冻结和被动回避行为减少。观察到，单暴露和成对暴露的大鼠的锥体神经元输入阻力均比未暴露的大鼠降低，而成对暴露的大鼠中神经元的输入阻力则高于单暴露的大鼠。我们发现，成对暴露大鼠中mPFC锥体神经元中动作电位（AP）峰值的数量显着低于单暴露大鼠。在单暴露和成对暴露的大鼠中，mPFC中的锥体神经元受到催产素的类似调节，而在单暴露的大鼠中，由催产素引起的中间神经元的AP尖峰数量减少，但在双暴露的大鼠中，无明显变化。因此，我们的发现表明，通过社交互动，成对暴露的大鼠中mPFC锥体神经元活动的减少会通过阻止恐惧记忆的形成而导致与恐惧有关的行为的减少。然而，在单次暴露的大鼠中没有观察到这种减少。此外，我们建议催产素介导的mPFC中神经元活动的减少可以促进社会缓冲。