scholarly journals The lateral periaqueductal gray and its role in controlling predatory hunting and social defense.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Marín-Blasco ◽  
Miguel Rangel ◽  
Marcus Baldo ◽  
Simone Motta ◽  
Lisa Stowers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Periaqueductal Gray ◽  
Predatory Behavior ◽  
Hypothalamic Area ◽  
Active Defense ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Social Defense ◽  
Behavioral Choices ◽  
Insect Predation ◽  
Descending Projections ◽  
Social Threats

Abstract Evasion from imminent threats and prey attack are opposite behavioral choices critical to survival. The lateral periaqueductal gray (LPAG) is a key player in these behaviors, it responds to social threats and prey hunting while also driving predatory attacks and active defense. Our results revealed that distinct neuronal populations in the LPAG drive prey hunting and evasion from social threats. We show that the LPAG provides a putative glutamatergic projection to the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA). LPAG > LHA pathway optogenetic inhibition impaired insect predation but did not alter escape/attack ratio during social defeat. The results suggest that the LPAG control over evasion to a social attack may be regarded as a stereotyped response depending probably on descending projections. Conversely, the LPAG control over predatory behavior involves an ascending pathway to the LHA that likely influences LHAGABA neurons driving predatory hunting and may provide an emotional drive for appetitive rewards.

scholarly journals The lateral periaqeductal gray and its role in controlling the opposite behavioral choices of predatory hunting and social defense

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Javier Marín-Blasco ◽  
Miguel José Rangel ◽  
Marcus Vinicius C. Baldo ◽  
Simone Cristina Motta ◽  
Newton Sabino Canteras
Keyword(s):  
Predatory Behavior ◽  
Hypothalamic Area ◽  
Active Defense ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Social Defense ◽  
Behavioral Choices ◽  
Predatory Attack ◽  
Insect Predation ◽  
Descending Projections ◽  
Social Threats

AbstractEvasion from imminent threats and prey attack are opposite behavioral choices critical to survival. Curiously, the lateral periaqueductal gray (LPAG) has been implicated in driving both responses. The LPAG responds to social threats and prey hunting while also drives predatory attacks and active defense. However, the LPAG neural mechanisms mediating these behaviors remain poorly defined. Here, we investigate how the LPAG mediates the choices of predatory hunting and evasion from a social threat. Pharmacogenetic inhibition in Fos DD-Cre mice of neurons responsive specifically to insect predation (IP) or social defeat (SD) revealed that distinct neuronal populations in the LPAG drive the prey hunting and evasion from social threats. We show that the LPAG provides massive glutamatergic projection to the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA). Optogenetic inhibition of the LPAG-LHA pathway impaired IP but did not alter escape/attack ratio during SD. We also found that pharmacogenetic inhibition of LHAGABA neurons impaired IP, but did not change evasion during SD. The results suggest that the LPAG control over evasion to a social attack may be regarded as a stereotyped response depending probably on glutamatergic descending projections. On the other hand, the LPAG control over predatory behavior involves an ascending glutamatergic pathway to the LHA that likely influences LHAGABA neurons driving predatory attack and prey consumption. The LPAG-LHA path supposedly provides an emotional drive for prey hunting and, of relevance, may conceivably have more widespread control on the motivational drive to seek other appetitive rewards.

scholarly journals Reciprocal connectivity of the periaqueductal gray with the ponto-medullary respiratory network in rat

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Trevizan-Baú ◽  
Werner I. Furuya ◽  
Stuart B. Mazzone ◽  
Davor Stanić ◽  
Rishi R. Dhingra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Rhythm ◽  
Upper Airway ◽  
Periaqueductal Gray ◽  
List Type ◽  
Airway Patency ◽  
Respiratory Network ◽  
Cholera Toxin Subunit B ◽  
Motor Activities ◽  
Descending Projections ◽  
Subunit B

AbstractSynaptic activities of the periaqueductal gray (PAG) can modulate or appropriate the respiratory motor activities in the context of behavior and emotion via descending projections to nucleus retroambiguus. However, alternative anatomical pathways for the mediation of PAG-evoked respiratory modulation via core nuclei of the brainstem respiratory network remains only partially described. We injected the retrograde tracer Cholera toxin subunit B (CT-B) in the pontine Kölliker-Fuse nucleus (KFn, n=5), medullary Bötzinger (BötC, n=3) and pre-Bötzinger complexes (pre-BötC; n=3), and the caudal raphé nuclei (n=3), and quantified the ascending and descending connectivity of the PAG. CT-B injections in the KFn, pre-BötC, and caudal raphé, but not in the BötC, resulted in CT-B-labeled neurons that were predominantly located in the lateral and ventrolateral PAG columns. In turn, CT-B injections into the lateral and ventrolateral PAG columns (n=4) yield the highest numbers of CT-B-labeled neurons in the KFn and far fewer numbers of labeled neurons in the pre-BötC and caudal raphé. Analysis of the relative projection strength revealed that the KFn shares the densest reciprocal connectivity with the PAG (ventrolateral and lateral columns, in particular). Overall, our data imply that the PAG may engage a distributed respiratory rhythm and pattern generating network beyond the nucleus retroambiguus to mediate downstream modulation of breathing. However, the reciprocal connectivity of the KFn and PAG suggests specific roles for synaptic interaction between these two nuclei that are most likely related to the regulation of upper airway patency during vocalization or other volitional orofacial behaviors.HighlightsThe lateral and ventrolateral PAG project to the primary respiratory network.The Kölliker-Fuse nucleus shares the densest reciprocal connectivity with the PAG.The Bötzinger complex appears to have very little connectivity with the PAG.

scholarly journals Cell type-specific modulation of sensory and affective components of itch in the periaqueductal gray

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijay K. Samineni ◽  
Jose G. Grajales-Reyes ◽  
Saranya S. Sundaram ◽  
Judy J. Yoo ◽  
Robert W. Gereau
Keyword(s):  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Periaqueductal Gray ◽  
Gabaergic Neurons ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Glutamatergic Neurons ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Chronic Itch ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Bidirectional Modulation ◽  
Affective Components

Abstract Itch is a distinct aversive sensation that elicits a strong urge to scratch. Despite recent advances in our understanding of the peripheral basis of itch, we know very little regarding how central neural circuits modulate acute and chronic itch processing. Here we establish the causal contributions of defined periaqueductal gray (PAG) neuronal populations in itch modulation in mice. Chemogenetic manipulations demonstrate bidirectional modulation of scratching by neurons in the PAG. Fiber photometry studies show that activity of GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in the PAG is modulated in an opposing manner during chloroquine-evoked scratching. Furthermore, activation of PAG GABAergic neurons or inhibition of glutamatergic neurons resulted in attenuation of scratching in both acute and chronic pruritis. Surprisingly, PAG GABAergic neurons, but not glutamatergic neurons, may encode the aversive component of itch. Thus, the PAG represents a neuromodulatory hub that regulates both the sensory and affective aspects of acute and chronic itch.

scholarly journals Parabrachial Opioidergic Projections to Preoptic Hypothalamus Mediate Behavioral and Physiological Thermal Defenses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Norris ◽  
Jordan R. Shaker ◽  
Aaron L. Cone ◽  
Imeh B. Ndiokho ◽  
Michael R Bruchas
Keyword(s):  
Body Temperature ◽  
Opioid Peptides ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Opioid System ◽  
Parabrachial Nucleus ◽  
Hypothalamic Area ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Neuronal Populations

SummaryMaintaining stable body temperature through environmental thermal stressors requires detection of temperature changes, relay of information, and coordination of physiological and behavioral responses. Studies have implicated areas in the preoptic hypothalamic area (POA) and the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) as nodes in the thermosensory neural circuitry and indicate the opioid system within the POA is vital in regulating body temperate. In the present study we identify neurons projecting to the POA from PBN expressing the opioid peptides Dynorphin (Dyn) and Enkephalin (Enk). We determine that warm-activated PBN neuronal populations overlap with both Dyn and Enk expressing PBN populations. We demonstrate that Dyn and Enk expressing neurons are partially overlapping subsets of a glutamatergic population in the PBN. Using optogenetic approaches we selectively activate projections in the POA from PBN Dyn, Enk, and VGLUT2 expressing neurons. Our findings demonstrate that Dyn, Enk, and VGLUT2 expressing PBN neurons are critical for physiological and behavioral heat defense.

scholarly journals The Lateral Hypothalamic Area Controls Paradoxical (REM) Sleep by Means of Descending Projections to Brainstem GABAergic Neurons

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (47) ◽  
pp. 16763-16774 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Clement ◽  
E. Sapin ◽  
P.-A. Libourel ◽  
S. Arthaud ◽  
F. Brischoux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Gabaergic Neurons ◽  
Lateral Hypothalamic Area ◽  
Hypothalamic Area ◽  
Lateral Hypothalamic ◽  
Descending Projections
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