BioRxiv. 2022 Jan 18
Jing-Jing Yan, Ai-Xiao Chen, Wen Zhang, Ting He, Xiao-Jing Ding, Zi-Xian Yu, Yan-Li Zhang, Mengge He, Haohong Li, Xiao-Hong Xu
Products used in the paper Details Operation
AAV- CAG-DIO-GtACR1 AAV- CAG-DIO-GtACR1 (Serotype2/5, titer 5.00 x 10^12 vg/mL) was purchased from PackGene Biotech Co, Guangzhou. Request Quote

Research Field: CNS

AAV Serotype: AAV2/5

Dose: Finally, to test whether AHN-projecting vSub neurons acutely regulate anxiety-related avoidance behavior, we specifically inhibited these neurons by bilaterally injecting retroAAVs encoding Cre-mCherry into AHN and AAVs encoding Cre-inducible GtACR1 into vSub

Abstract

Anxiety over perceived threats triggers avoidance behavior, but the underlying neural circuit mechanism remains poorly understood. Taking hints from the deep connection between anxiety and predator defense, we examined the role of the anterior hypothalamic nucleus (AHN), a critical node in the predator defense network, in anxiety-related behaviors. By recording Ca2+ transients in behaving mice, we found that activity of AHN GABAergic (AHNVgat+) neurons showed individually stable increases when animals approached unfamiliar objects in an open field (OF) or explored the open arm of an elevated plus-maze (EPM). Moreover, AHNVgat+ neuron activity foreshadowed behavioral retreats and correlated with object and open-arm avoidance. Crucially, exploration-triggered optogenetic inhibition of AHNVgat+ neurons dramatically reduced avoidance behaviors. Furthermore, retrograde viral tracing identified the ventral subiculum (vSub) of the hippocampal formation as a significant input to AHNVgat+ neurons in driving avoidance behaviors. Thus, the activity of the hippocampal-hypothalamic pathway promotes idiosyncratic anxiety-related behavioral avoidance.

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