Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28067904›Full record

ArticleNature neuroscience2017

Prefrontal cortical control of a brainstem social behavior circuit.

Tamara B Franklin, Bianca A Silva, Zinaida Perova, Livia Marrone, Maria E Masferrer, Yang Zhan, Angie Kaplan, Louise Greetham, Violaine Verrechia, Andreas Halman and 6 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 133 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
133citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

133 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Activation by Alcohol of Prefrontal Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons Depends on Ascending Dopaminergic Input.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
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  14. Prefrontal corticotropin-releasing factor promotes resilience to social stress.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Article
  15. Organization of Brainwide Inputs to Discrete Lateral Septum Projection Populations.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  16. Article
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73 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Tamara B FranklinMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Bianca A SilvaMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Zinaida PerovaMRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, UK.
Livia MarroneMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-0813-1350
Maria E MasferrerMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Yang ZhanMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Angie KaplanMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Louise GreethamMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Violaine VerrechiaMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Andreas HalmanMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Sara PagellaMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-3796-2409
Alexei L VyssotskiInstitute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zürich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.
Anna IllarionovaSchaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Cell Network Cluster of Excellence, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Valery GrinevichSchaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Cell Network Cluster of Excellence, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Tiago BrancoMRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, UK.
Cornelius T GrossMouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.

Funding

Medical Research Council MC-UP-1201/1Medical Research Council MC_UP_1201/1Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 098400/Z/12/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The prefrontal cortex helps adjust an organism's behavior to its environment. In particular, numerous studies have implicated the prefrontal cortex in the control of social behavior, but the neural circuits that mediate these effects remain unknown. Here we investigated behavioral adaptation to social defeat in mice and uncovered a critical contribution of neural projections from the medial prefrontal cortex to the dorsal periaqueductal gray, a brainstem area vital for defensive responses. Social defeat caused a weakening of functional connectivity between these two areas, and selective inhibition of these projections mimicked the behavioral effects of social defeat. These findings define a specific neural projection by which the prefrontal cortex can control and adapt social behavior.

Indexed as

Social BehaviorAnimalsBehavior, AnimalBrain StemMiceMice, Inbred C57BLModels, AnimalNeural PathwaysPeriaqueductal GrayPrefrontal Cortex

Identifiers

PMID28067904
PMCPMC5580810

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.