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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe _Nature_ 599, 262–267 (2021) Social affiliative touch, such as allogrooming, is a common form of comforting behavior, often expressed in the
context of alleviating stress in the recipient. Allogrooming is observed in many social species, but the neural circuits of this behavior remain unexplored. Wu and colleagues first establish
that mice display an increase in allogrooming toward a distressed partner, resulting in lowered anxiety in the stressed mouse. Consistent with its role in social behaviors, neurons in the
medial amygdala (MeA) exhibit changes in activity in response to allogrooming, as well as to sniffing and self-grooming. Using a combination of intersectional labeling, optogenetic
manipulation and calcium imaging, the authors show that tachykinin-expressing GABAergic neurons in the MeA promote affiliative allogrooming via their projections to the medial preoptic
nucleus. These behavioral and neural findings together provide a framework for further exploring the neural circuit mechanisms of prosocial behavior in mice. This is a preview of
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* Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Nature Neuroscience https://www.nature.com/neuro/
Sachin Ranade Authors * Sachin Ranade View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Sachin Ranade. RIGHTS AND
PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Ranade, S. Comforting in mice. _Nat Neurosci_ 24, 1640 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-021-00979-2 Download
citation * Published: 30 November 2021 * Issue Date: December 2021 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-021-00979-2 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able
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