Abstract
Social isolation is an important factor in the development of psychiatric disorders. It is necessary to develop an effective psychological treatment, such as cognitive rehabilitation, for children who have already suffered from social isolation, such as neglect and social rejection. We used socially isolated mice to validate whether elaborate re-socialization after juvenile social isolation can restore hypomyelination in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the attendant functions manifested in socially isolated mice. While mice who underwent re-socialization with socially isolated mice after juvenile social isolation (Re-IS mice) demonstrated less mPFC activity during exposure to a strange mouse, as well as thinner myelin in the mPFC than controls, mice who underwent re-socialization with socially housed mice after juvenile social isolation (Re-SH mice) caught up with the controls in terms of most mPFC functions, as well as myelination. Moreover, social interaction of Re-IS mice was reduced as compared to controls, but Re-SH mice showed an amount of social interaction comparable to that of controls. These results suggest that the mode of re-socialization after juvenile social isolation has significant effects on myelination in the mPFC and the attendant functions in mice, indicating the importance of appropriate psychosocial intervention after social isolation.
Highlights
Social isolation is an important factor in the development of psychiatric disorders
A previous study has shown that re-socialization with socially isolated mice does not alter the hypomyelination in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) caused by juvenile social isolation[6], which indicates that social interaction between socially isolated mice is not sufficient to restore hypomyelination
Immediate early gene (IEG) responses in the mPFC during exposure to a strange mouse were measured as an index of mPFC function (IEG mRNA expression with exposure/IEG mRNA expression without exposure)
Summary
Social isolation is an important factor in the development of psychiatric disorders. It is necessary to develop an effective psychological treatment, such as cognitive rehabilitation, for children who have already suffered from social isolation, such as neglect and social rejection. Other studies have suggested that interventions, such as re-socialization after social isolation, and an enriched environment after adverse juvenile experience can recover these brain abnormalities in rodents[7, 11] and humans[12] Social isolation, such as neglect and social rejection, which is a form of social experience shutdown in terms of experiencing being disliked or not disliked[13], is a key factor in the development or exacerbation of psychiatric disorders, such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)[14,15,16]. We employed socially isolated mice as a model of neglect and social rejection and sought to investigate whether re-socialization with socially housed mice, rather than with socially isolated mice, after juvenile social isolation (Fig. 1), can restore hypomyelination in the mPFC and the attendant brain dysfunction, even after myelin impairment is manifest in mice due to juvenile social isolation
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