Developmental Genetics of the Nervous System, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstr 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2016 Sep 20;7:12620. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12620.
The anterior pituitary is the major link between nervous and hormonal systems, which allow the brain to generate adequate and flexible behaviour. Here, we address its role in mediating behavioural adjustments that aid in coping with acutely threatening environments. For this we combine optogenetic manipulation of pituitary corticotroph cells in larval zebrafish with newly developed assays for measuring goal-directed actions in very short timescales. Our results reveal modulatory actions of corticotroph cell activity on locomotion, avoidance behaviours and stimulus responsiveness directly after the onset of stress. Altogether, the findings uncover the significance of endocrine pituitary cells for rapidly optimizing behaviour in local antagonistic environments.
垂体前叶是神经和激素系统之间的主要联系，它使大脑能够产生足够和灵活的行为。在这里，我们研究了它在介导行为调整中的作用，这些调整有助于应对急性威胁环境。为此，我们结合了幼鱼中垂体促肾上腺皮质细胞的光遗传学操纵和新开发的用于测量极短时间尺度内目标导向行为的测定法。我们的结果揭示了促肾上腺皮质细胞活性对运动、回避行为和刺激反应性的调节作用，这些作用直接发生在应激开始之后。总的来说，这些发现揭示了内分泌垂体细胞在快速优化局部拮抗环境中的行为的重要性。
