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A molecular signature for social isolation identified in the brain

Extended social isolation causes debilitating effects in social mammals such as humans. A study in mice shows that the gene Tac2 is upregulated throughout the brains of socially isolated animals, driving massive behavioural changes.
  1. Noga Zilkha

    1. Noga Zilkha is in the Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.

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  2. Tali Kimchi

    1. Tali Kimchi is in the Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.

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Even the toughest prisoners fear solitary confinement. There is a growing awareness across the globe that we are facing an epidemic of loneliness. Prolonged social isolation and loneliness can lead to many profound physiological and neuropsychiatric conditions, including depression and heart disease, and to increased mortality rates1. In the United States, more than 50% of people over the age of 60 experience loneliness2, and the United Kingdom has appointed a government minister to tackle the issue of loneliness. But the biological mechanisms underlying the effects of social isolation are poorly understood. Writing in Cell, Zelikowsky et al.3 reveal a signalling mechanism that acts in several brain regions in mice to drive some of the harmful effects of the stress caused by chronic social isolation.

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Nature 559, 38-40 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05447-9

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