Resolving the role of the habenula in modulating social interactions.

Stephen W.Wilson (primary)
Cell and Developmental Biology
UCL
Elena Dreosti (secondary)
Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research
University College London

Abstract

Social interactions are highly rewarding, and known to be modulated though monoaminergic transmission. The habenula is suggested to play a role in social behaviour as well as in the modulation of dopaminergic transmission. Using zebrafish, this project will assess how the habenula processes social information, and how altered habenular laterality and neuronal composition impacts social behaviour.


References

[1] Dreosti E, … Wilson SW. (2015) Development of social behavior in young zebrafish. Front Neural Circuits Aug 18;9:39
[2] Dreosti E, … Wilson SW. (2014) Left-right asymmetry is required for the habenulae to respond to both visual and olfactory stimuli. Curr Biol. Feb 17;24(4):440-5.
[3] Hüsken U., et al. (2014). Tcf7l2-dependent Wnt signalling in nascent habenular neurons mediates their left-right asymmetric differentiation. Current Biology 24 2217-27. PMID: 25201686.
[4] Bianco IH, Wilson SW. (2009) The habenular nuclei: a conserved asymmetric relay station in the vertebrate brain. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci Apr 12;364(1519):1005-20


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
DevelopmentNeurobiology
Techniques & Approaches
Image ProcessingMicroscopy / ElectrophysiologyMolecular Biology