Recognizing the affective states of social counterparts and responding appropriately fosters successful social interactions. However, little is known about how the affective states are expressed and perceived and how they influence social decisions. Here, we show that male and female mice emit distinct olfactory cues after experiencing distress. These cues activate distinct neural circuits in the piriform cortex (PiC) and evoke sexually dimorphic empathic behaviors in observers. Specifically, the PiC → PrL pathway is activated in female observers, inducing a social preference for the distressed counterpart. Conversely, the PiC → MeA pathway is activated in male observers, evoking excessive self-grooming behaviors. These pathways originate from non-overlapping PiC neuron populations with distinct gene expression signatures regulated by transcription factors and sex hormones. Our study unveils how internal states of social counterparts are processed through sexually dimorphic mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels and offers insights into the neural mechanisms underpinning sex differences in higher brain functions.

中文翻译：

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情感状态处理和共情行为的性别二态控制

认识到社交伙伴的情感状态并做出适当的反应可以促进成功的社交互动。然而，人们对情感状态如何表达和感知以及它们如何影响社会决策知之甚少。在这里，我们发现雄性和雌性小鼠在经历痛苦后会发出不同的嗅觉信号。这些线索激活梨状皮层（PiC）中不同的神经回路，并唤起观察者的性别二态性共情行为。具体来说，PiC → PrL 通路在女性观察者中被激活，从而引发对痛苦伴侣的社会偏好。相反，PiC → MeA 通路在男性观察者中被激活，引发过度的自我修饰行为。这些通路源自非重叠的 PiC 神经元群，具有受转录因子和性激素调节的独特基因表达特征。我们的研究揭示了社会对应物的内部状态是如何通过分子、细胞和回路水平上的性别二态机制进行处理的，并提供了对高级大脑功能中性别差异基础的神经机制的见解。