Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Sudden unexpected environmental changes capture attention and, when perceived as potentially dangerous, evoke defensive behavioral states. Perturbations of the lateral septum (LS) can produce extreme hyperdefensiveness even to innocuous stimuli, but how this structure influences stimulus-evoked defensive responses and threat perception remains unclear. Here, we show that Crhr2 -expressing neurons in mouse LS exhibit phasic activation upon detection of threatening but not rewarding stimuli. Threat-stimulus-driven activity predicts the probability but not vigor or type of defensive behavior evoked. Although necessary for and sufficient to potentiate stimulus-triggered defensive responses, LS Crhr2 neurons do not promote specific behaviors. Rather, their stimulation elicits negative valence and physiological arousal. Moreover, LS Crhr2 activity tracks brain state fluctuations and drives cortical activation and rapid awakening in the absence of threat. Together, our findings suggest that LS directs bottom-up modulation of cortical function to evoke preparatory defensive internal states and selectively enhance responsivity to threat-related stimuli.
Source: Cell Reports
Language: English
Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,200
Awards: Genetic dissection of lateral septal circuitry that controls stress-induced persistent anxiety states, Center for Neuroanatomy with Neurotropic Viruses, Shared multi-photon confocal microscope, Brainstem regulation of sleep, Dissection of a novel inhibitory hypothalamic arousal circuit, Molecular-Genetic Dissection of Subcortical Circuitry Regulating Arousal, Boston Children's Hospital/HMS Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Regulation of arousal state by the suprachiasmatic clock
OpenAlex ID: W4307583447