Parallel olfactory pathways shape social representations in the medial amygdala
Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In mice, olfaction powerfully drives innate social behaviours. Social representations in the medial amygdala (MeA), a major social hub in the brain, are formed by nonvolatile information relayed by the accessory olfactory pathway. However, it remains unknown how the main olfactory pathway, which carries volatile signals, contributes to olfactory processing of social cues in this region. In the first empirical chapter (Chapter Three), Neuropixels recordings in socially interacting mice confirmed that contact increases neural activity in the MeA in a stimulus-specific manner. In Chapter Four, recordings in head-fixed animals with controlled presentations of conspecific cues (volatiles or volatiles and nonvolatiles combined) showed that MeA neurons can respond to volatile and combined stimuli. Furthermore, loss of volatile inputs to the MeA weakens and delays neural discrimination. In Chapter Five, recordings from sexually experienced mice showed strengthened volatile representations in the MeA, resulting in faster, more accurate neural discrimination. In Chapter Six, recordings from the MeA subject to the silencing of NDNF+ MeA neurons, showed that this population is required to potentiate nonvolatile activations, but depress volatile activations. Altogether, findings in this thesis better our understanding of the unique contributions of parallel olfactory pathways for building distinct social representations in the brain.
Author: Bailey-Smith, Shanice
Language: English
Subfield: Sensory Systems
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221484576