Social interaction is a fundamental human need. Social isolation (SI) can have negative effects on both emotional and cognitive function. However, it is currently unclear how age and the duration of SI affect emotion and recognition function. In addition, there is no specific treatment for the effects of SI.
The adolescence or adult mice were individually housed in cages for 1, 6 or 12 months and for 2 months to estabolish SI mouse model. We investigated the effects of SI on behavior in mice at different ages and under distinct durations of SI, and we explored the possible underlying mechanisms. Then we performed deep brain stimulation (DBS) to evaluate its influences on SI induced behavioral abnormalities.
We found that social recognition was affected in the short term, while social preference was damaged by extremely long periods of SI. In addition to affecting social memory, SI also affects emotion, short-term spatial ability and learning willingness in mice. Myelin was decreased significantly in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and dorsal hippocampus of socially isolated mice. Cellular activity in response to social stimulation in both areas was impaired by social isolation. By stimulating the mPFC using DBS, we found that DBS alleviated cellular activation disorders in the mPFC after long-term SI and improved social preference in mice.
Our results suggest that the therapeutic potential of stimulating the mPFC with DBS in individuals with social preference deficits caused by long-term social isolation, as well as the effects of DBS on the cellular activity and density of OPCs.