Empathy driver identified!
The genetic and neural underpinnings of empathy, crucial for social interaction, remain elusive.
The researchers identify aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator 2 (ARNT2), a key driver modulating observational fear, a basic form of affective empathy.
The researchers demonstrate that altered expression of ARNT2 leads to deficits in observational fear and that ARNT2- expressing somatostatin (SST) interneurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) play a crucial role in regulating empathic freezing responses and the ability to discriminate emotional states in conspecifics.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(24)01010-6
