Recent advances in circuit manipulation technologies have enabled the association of distinct neural circuits with complex social behaviors. The brain areas identified through historical anatomical characterizations as mediators of sexual and parental behaviors can now be functionally linked to adult social behaviors within a unified circuit. In vivo electrophysiology, optogenetics and chemogenetics have been used to follow the processing of social sensory stimuli from perception by the olfactory system to valence detection by the amygdala and mesolimbic dopamine system to integration by the cerebral and cerebellar cortices under modulation of hypothalamic neuropeptides. Further, these techniques have been able to identify the distinct functional changes induced by social as opposed to non-social stimuli. Together this evidence suggests that there is a distinct, functionally coupled circuit that is selectively activated by social stimuli. A unified social circuit provides a new framework against which synaptopathic autism related mutations can be considered and novel pharmacotherapeutic strategies can be developed.

中文翻译：

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社会行为的统一电路。

电路操纵技术的最新进展使不同的神经电路与复杂的社会行为联系起来。通过历史解剖学特征确定的作为性行为和父母行为中介的大脑区域现在可以在统一回路中与成人社会行为功能联系起来。体内电生理学、光遗传学和化学遗传学已被用来跟踪社会感觉刺激的处理过程，从嗅觉系统的感知到杏仁核和中脑边缘多巴胺系统的效价检测，再到下丘脑神经肽调节下大脑和小脑皮质的整合。此外，这些技术已经能够识别由社交刺激而不是非社交刺激引起的独特功能变化。这些证据共同表明，存在一个独特的、功能耦合的回路，可以被社会刺激选择性地激活。统一的社会回路提供了一个新的框架，可以根据该框架考虑突触病自闭症相关突变并开发新的药物治疗策略。