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Social behavior

Control of social hierarchy beyond neurons

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Noh et al. show that the regulation of social behavior extends beyond neurons. Astrocytes, a major type of glial cell in the CNS, can influence social dominance behavior by modulating excitatory and inhibitory neural activities in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex of adult male mice. This work highlights the importance of neuron–astrocyte interplay in controlling ethologically relevant behaviors.

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Fig. 1: Astrocytes in the dmPFC modulate social rank and dominance in male mice through bidirectional modulation of synaptic excitatory/inhibitory balance.

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Correspondence to Weizhe Hong.

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Phi, N.T., Yu, X. & Hong, W. Control of social hierarchy beyond neurons. Nat Neurosci 26, 1485–1486 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01392-7

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