Induction of flight via midbrain projections to the cuneiform nucleus

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 2; p. e0281464
• Main Authors: Tsang, Emmy, Orlandini, Camilla, Sureka, Rahul, Crevenna, Alvaro H, Perlas, Emerald, Prankerd, Izzie, Masferrer, Maria E, Gross, Cornelius T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 16.02.2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Biology and Life Sciences; Defensive behavior; Electric Stimulation; Electrical stimuli; Escape behavior; Flight; Flight behavior; Freezing; Gene expression; Laboratories; Localization; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mesencephalon; Midbrain Reticular Formation; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Periaqueductal Gray; Periaqueductal gray area; Quality control; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Research and Analysis Methods; Social Sciences; Stimulation; Viruses
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281464

The dorsal periaqueductal gray is a midbrain structure implicated in the control of defensive behaviors and the processing of painful stimuli. Electrical stimulation or optogenetic activation of excitatory neurons in dorsal periaqueductal gray results in freezing or flight behavior at low and high intensity, respectively. However, the output structures that mediate these defensive behaviors remain unconfirmed. Here we carried out a targeted classification of neuron types in dorsal periaqueductal gray using multiplex in situ sequencing and then applied cell-type and projection-specific optogenetic stimulation to identify projections from dorsal periaqueductal grey to the cuneiform nucleus that promoted goal-directed flight behavior. These data confirmed that descending outputs from dorsal periaqueductal gray serve as a trigger for directed escape behavior.