Zhong Cheng, Wang Lulu, Cao Yi, Sun Chongyang, Huang Jianyu, Wang Xufang, Pan Suwan, He Shuyu, Huang Kang, Lu Zhonghua, Xu Fuqiang, Lu Yi, Wang Liping
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Behavior, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen 518055, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Behavior, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen 518055, China; Center for Brain Science, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.
Cell Rep. 2022 Nov 1;41(5):111570. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111570.
An appropriate balance between explorative and defensive behavior is essential for the survival and reproduction of prey animals in risky environments. However, the neural circuit and mechanism that allow for such a balance remains poorly understood. Here, we use a semi-naturalistic predator threat test (PTT) to observe and quantify the defense-exploration balance, especially risk exploration behavior in mice. During the PTT, the activity of the putative dorsal CA3 glutamatergic neurons (dCA3) is suppressed by predatory threat and risk exploration, whereas the neurons are activated during contextual exploration. Moreover, optogenetic excitation of these neurons induces a significant increase in risk exploration. A circuit, comprising the dorsal CA3, dorsal lateral septal, and dorsomedial hypothalamic (dCA3-dLS-DMH) areas, may be involved. Moreover, activation of the dCA3-dLS-DMH circuit promotes the switch from defense to risk exploration and suppresses threat-induced increase in arousal.
在危险环境中，猎物动物的探索行为和防御行为之间保持适当平衡对于其生存和繁殖至关重要。然而，实现这种平衡的神经回路和机制仍知之甚少。在这里，我们使用半自然捕食者威胁测试（PTT）来观察和量化防御-探索平衡，特别是小鼠的风险探索行为。在PTT期间，假定的背侧CA3谷氨酸能神经元（dCA3）的活动在捕食威胁和风险探索时受到抑制，而在情境探索时这些神经元被激活。此外，对这些神经元进行光遗传学激发会导致风险探索显著增加。一个由背侧CA3、背外侧隔区和背内侧下丘脑（dCA3-dLS-DMH）区域组成的回路可能与此有关。此外，dCA3-dLS-DMH回路的激活促进了从防御到风险探索的转变，并抑制了威胁引起的觉醒增加。
