Seminar – Ioana Carcea

Biological mechanisms linking social support and health

Social support strongly associates with mental and physical health, yet it remains unclear whether changes in social behavior are a cause or an early symptom of disease. We find that disrupting the function of peripheral systems (e.g., immune activation by bacterial toxins) leads to specific alterations in social behavior. These effects are mediated, in part, by changes in oxytocin neuropeptide signaling. Conversely, depriving mice of social interactions impairs hypothalamic regulation of glucose homeostasis in a sex-specific manner, an outcome that depends on oxytocin modulation of sympathetic output. Together, these findings reveal a bidirectional causal relationship between social behavior and physiological health, in which changes in bodily state reshape social function, while the social environment itself feeds back to regulate core physiological processes.