Delayed escape behavior requires claustral activity

• Published in: Cell reports (Cambridge) Vol. 43; no. 2; p. 113748
• Main Authors: Han, Yujin, Sohn, Kuenbae, Yoon, Donghyeon, Park, Sewon, Lee, Junghwa, Choi, Sukwoo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 27.02.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: claustrum; CP: Neuroscience; defensive behaviors; persistent activity; rats; working memory; claustrum; rats; defensive behaviors; working memory; CP: Neuroscience; persistent activity
• ISSN: 2211-1247; 2211-1247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113748

Animals are known to exhibit innate and learned forms of defensive behaviors, but it is unclear whether animals can escape through methods other than these forms. In this study, we develop the delayed escape task, in which male rats temporarily hold the information required for future escape, and we demonstrate that this task, in which the subject extrapolates from past experience without direct experience of its behavioral outcome, does not fall into either of the two forms of behavior. During the holding period, a subset of neurons in the rostral-to-striatum claustrum (rsCla), only when pooled together, sustain enhanced population activity without ongoing sensory stimuli. Transient inhibition of rsCla neurons during the initial part of the holding period produces prolonged inhibition of the enhanced activity. The transient inhibition also attenuates the delayed escape behavior. Our data suggest that the rsCla activity bridges escape-inducing stimuli to the delayed onset of escape. [Display omitted] •Rats can temporarily hold the information required for future escape•Neurons in the rsCla sustain enhanced activity during the holding period•Optogenetic inhibition of the rsCla activity attenuates the delayed escape behavior Han et al. show that delayed escape behavior, in which rats temporarily hold the information required for future escape, requires sustained activity of a subset of neurons in the rsCla during the holding period. Thus, the rsCla might perform the function of maintaining essential information online for future escape.