Topic: social grooming

We have established that the posterior intralaminar thalamic nucleus (PIL) receives ascending input from the somatosensory system and promotes social grooming in female rats. In the present study, we focused on the role of PIL neurons in aggressive behavior. For chemogenetic manipulation of PIL neurons, we injected AAV into the PIL, which expressed excitatory and inhibitory DREADD. In a separate experiment, we selectively tagged socially c-Fos-activated neurons in the PIL. On the first day of the experiments, a vehicle was injected followed by male intruder test 1.5 hours later. On the next da