Serotonin release in the habenula during emotional contagion promotes resilience

• DOI: 10.1126/science.adp3897
• Publication Date: 2024-09-05T18:00:11Z
• Authors: Sarah Mondoloni; Patricia Molina; Salvatore Lecca; Cheng-Hsi Wu; Léo Michel; Denys Osypenko; Fanchon Cachin; Meghan Flanigan; Mauro Congiu; Arnaud L. Lalive; Thomas Kash; Fei Deng; Yulong Li; Manuel Mameli
• Keywords: Habenula; Raphe nuclei; Emotional Distress; Monoaminergic

Negative emotional contagion-witnessing others in distress-affects an individual's responsivity. However, whether it shapes coping strategies when facing future threats remains unknown. We found that mice briefly observe a conspecific being harmed become resilient, withstanding behavioral despair after adverse experience. Photometric recordings during negative contagion revealed increased serotonin (5-HT) release the lateral habenula. Whereas 5-HT and reduced habenular burst firing, limiting synthesis prevented plasticity. Enhancing raphe-to-habenula was sufficient to recapitulate resilience. In contrast, reducing habenula made witnessing distress ineffective promote resilient phenotype adversity. These findings reveal supports vicarious emotions leads resilience by tuning definite patterns of neuronal activity.