Serotonin release in the habenula during emotional contagion promotes resilience

Abstract

Negative emotional contagion—witnessing others in distress—affects an individual’s emotional responsivity. However, whether it shapes coping strategies when facing future threats remains unknown. We found that mice that briefly observe a conspecific being harmed become resilient, withstanding behavioral despair after an adverse experience. Photometric recordings during negative emotional contagion revealed increased serotonin (5-HT) release in the lateral habenula. Whereas 5-HT and emotional contagion reduced habenular burst firing, limiting 5-HT synthesis prevented burst plasticity. Enhancing raphe-to-habenula 5-HT was sufficient to recapitulate resilience. In contrast, reducing 5-HT release in the habenula made witnessing a conspecific in distress ineffective to promote the resilient phenotype after adversity. These findings reveal that 5-HT supports vicarious emotions and leads to resilience by tuning definite patterns of habenular neuronal activity.