# microRNA tuning of gregarious versus antisocial behavior in juveniles

> **NIH NIH R56** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $397,258

## Abstract

Project Summary
Healthy behavioral development in children relies on social connectedness. Social isolation and loneliness during
childhood can lead deleterious behavioral phenotypes that continue into adulthood, such as aggression towards
oneself and others. However, the basic principles of juvenile aggression are unknown, in part, because traditional
laboratory animals do not show aggression as juveniles and functional studies in human children remain
challenging. To address this deficit, this research aims to uncover basic neurobiological mechanisms of how
social isolation leads to juvenile aggression in tadpoles that can be violently aggressive or socially gregarious
based on social rearing conditions. We combine this novel research organism and behavioral paradigm with
advanced neurogenetic tools to interrogate the neuronal substrates of aggression induced by social isolation.
We focus this research on microRNAs because microRNAs are responsible for the sociality switches across a
wide range of taxa and have promising therapeutic potential through application of microRNA mimics or inhibitors
that can change gene expression programs without altering DNA sequences. Recent data from our lab shows
that tadpole aggression is associated with increased activity in the amygdala, endorphin signaling, and a
decrease in forkhead box protein 2 (FOXP2) expression, a gene linked to social behavior in many taxa. Based
on this robust preliminary data, we propose to test the hypothesis that microRNAs alter FOXP2 expression in
endorphin-sensitive neurons to induce aggressive behavior in juveniles susceptible to social isolation. We will
first determine how social isolation shifts the microRNA landscape of the juvenile brain using single cell
sequencing and testing how microRNA expression changes in FOXP2- and endorphin-sensitive neurons. Then,
we will examine how microRNAs in the amygdala tune the behavioral responses of juveniles based on social
rearing conditions. Finally, as connectivity of the human amygdala is reduced in aggressive humans, we will
functionally test the role of miR-9 in altering amygdala connectivity and predisposing tadpoles to be gregarious
or aggressive. Together, the proposed experiments will systematically dissect the mechanisms by which
microRNAs regulate FOXP2 and the µ opioid receptor to regulate juvenile sociality and aggression in a research
organism with experimental tractability and a robust behavioral output that is difficult to achieve in other research
organisms. As the molecular factors and overall brain organization of social-motor behaviors are conserved
across vertebrates, this research will identify generalizable principles of juvenile aggression. There is a pressing
need for this research because there are currently no established models for studying the neural mechanisms
of juvenile aggression. This work is important to public health because the COVID-19 pandemic isolated children
from their peers and led to an incre...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10839665
- **Project number:** 1R56MH133094-01
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lauren A O'Connell
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $397,258
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-06-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10839665

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10839665, microRNA tuning of gregarious versus antisocial behavior in juveniles (1R56MH133094-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10839665. Licensed CC0.

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