social isolation

The role of orexin/hypocretin in social behaviour

My lab is focused on how brain encodes and modulates social interactions. Intraspecific social interactions are integral for survival and maintenance of society among all mammalian species. Despite the importance of social interactions, we lack a complete understanding of the brain circuitry involved in processing social behaviour. My lab investigates how the hypothalamic orexin (hypocretin) neurons and their downstream circuits participate in social interaction behaviours. These neurons are located exclusively in the hypothalamus that regulates complex and goal-directed behaviours. We recently identified that orexin neurons differentially encode interaction between familiar and novel animals. We are currently investigating how chronic social isolation, a risk factor for the development of social-anxiety like behaviours, affects orexin neuron activity and how we can manipulate the activity of these neurons to mitigate isolation-induced social deficits.

Social deprivation, coping and drugs: a bad cocktail in the COVID-19 era: evidence from preclinical studies

The factors that underlie an individual’s vulnerability to switch from controlled, recreational drug use to addiction are not well understood. I will discuss the evidence in rats that in individuals housed in enriched conditions, the experience of drugs in the relative social and sensory impoverishment of the drug taking context, and the associated change in behavioural traits of resilience to addiction, exacerbate the vulnerability to develop compulsive drug intake. I will further discuss the importance of the acquisition of alcohol drinking as a mechanism to cope with distress as a factor of exacerbated vulnerability to develop compulsive alcohol intake. Together these results demonstrate that experiential factors in the drug taking context, which can be substantially driven by social isolation, shape the vulnerability to addiction.

Social isolation stress in aged mice: what about affective behavior and inhibitory circuits

The Effect of Social Isolation on Cancer Metastases and the Nucleus Accumbens in Rats

The effect of the social isolation stress on fear extinction – the role of the dopaminergic and endogenous opioid neurotransmission

Effects of social isolation stress and ketogenic diet on mice behavior and metabolism

Social isolation in adolescence: changes in the gut microbiota composition and in the hippocampal inflammation

Social isolation during adolescence triggers emotional dysfunction in both female and male mice

Social isolation impact on behaviour and neuroinflammatory context – a study in a mice model

Altered activities of antioxidant enzymes in peripheral organs and erythrocytes due to social isolation in peripuberty: Findings from a rodent study

FENS Forum 2024

Impact of social isolation on cognitive and motor functions in aging male mice

FENS Forum 2024

Liver, kidney, and spleen as Aβ scavenger systems in Alzheimer’s disease and the impact of social isolation in normal and pathological aging

FENS Forum 2024

Non-linear temporal effects of social isolation on behavioral dimensions in aged male and female C57BL/6J mice

FENS Forum 2024

A population of insula neurons encodes for social preference during social isolation

FENS Forum 2024

Social isolation during adolescence causes increased generalized anxiety-like behavior in male rats and reduced social anxiety-like behavior in male and female rats

FENS Forum 2024