@article {hyun_social_2021,
	title = {Social isolation uncovers a circuit underlying context-dependent territory-covering micturition.},
	journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
	volume = {118},
	number = {1},
	year = {2021},
	abstract = {The release of urine, or micturition, serves a fundamental physiological function and, in many species, is critical for social communication. In mice, the pattern of urine release is modulated by external and internal factors and transmitted to the spinal cord via the pontine micturition center (PMC). Here, we exploited a behavioral paradigm in which mice, depending on strain, social experience, and sensory context, either vigorously cover an arena with small urine spots or deposit urine in a few isolated large spots. We refer to these micturition modes as, respectively, high and low territory-covering micturition (TCM) and find that the presence of a urine stimulus robustly induces high TCM in socially isolated mice. Comparison of the brain networks activated by social isolation and by urine stimuli to those upstream of the PMC identified the lateral hypothalamic area as a potential modulator of micturition modes. Indeed, chemogenetic manipulations of the lateral hypothalamus can switch micturition behavior between high and low TCM, overriding the influence of social experience and sensory context. Our results suggest that both inhibitory and excitatory signals arising from a network upstream of the PMC are integrated to determine context- and social-experience-dependent micturition patterns.},
	keywords = {*hypothamaus, *micturition, *pons, *social hierarchy, 129 Strain, Animals, Brain/physiology, Communication, Hypothalamus/*physiology, Inbred BALB C, Inbred C57BL, Male, Mice, Pons/physiology, Reflex/physiology, Social Isolation/*psychology, Spinal Cord/physiology, Urinary Bladder/physiology, Urination/genetics/*physiology},
	issn = {1091-6490 0027-8424},
	doi = {10.1073/pnas.2018078118},
	author = {Hyun, Minsuk and Taranda, Julian and Radeljic, Gianna and Miner, Lauren and Wengang Wang and Ochandarena, Nicole and Huang, Kee Wui and Osten, Pavel and Bernardo L. Sabatini}
}
