A Ventromedial Prefrontal-to-Lateral Entorhinal Cortex Pathway Modulates the Gain of Behavioral Responding During Threat. 2023

Erin Hisey, and Alicia Purkey, and Yudong Gao, and Kazi Hossain, and Scott H Soderling, and Kerry J Ressler
Department of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Massachusetts.

The ability to correctly associate cues and contexts with threat is critical for survival, and the inability to do so can result in threat-related disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus are well known to play critical roles in cued and contextual threat memory processing. However, the circuits that mediate prefrontal-hippocampal modulation of context discrimination during cued threat processing are less understood. Here, we demonstrate the role of a previously unexplored projection from the ventromedial region of PFC (vmPFC) to the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) in modulating the gain of behavior in response to contextual information during threat retrieval and encoding. We used optogenetics followed by in vivo calcium imaging in male C57/B6J mice to manipulate and monitor vmPFC-LEC activity in response to threat-associated cues in different contexts. We then investigated the inputs to, and outputs from, vmPFC-LEC cells using Rabies tracing and channelrhodopsin-assisted electrophysiology. vmPFC-LEC cells flexibly and bidirectionally shaped behavior during threat expression, shaping sensitivity to contextual information to increase or decrease the gain of behavioral output in response to a threatening or neutral context, respectively. Glutamatergic vmPFC-LEC cells are key players in behavioral gain control in response to contextual information during threat processing and may provide a future target for intervention in threat-based disorders.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D008810 Mice, Inbred C57BL One of the first INBRED MOUSE STRAINS to be sequenced. This strain is commonly used as genetic background for transgenic mouse models. Refractory to many tumors, this strain is also preferred model for studying role of genetic variations in development of diseases. Mice, C57BL,Mouse, C57BL,Mouse, Inbred C57BL,C57BL Mice,C57BL Mice, Inbred,C57BL Mouse,C57BL Mouse, Inbred,Inbred C57BL Mice,Inbred C57BL Mouse
D009434 Neural Pathways Neural tracts connecting one part of the nervous system with another. Neural Interconnections,Interconnection, Neural,Interconnections, Neural,Neural Interconnection,Neural Pathway,Pathway, Neural,Pathways, Neural
D003463 Cues Signals for an action; that specific portion of a perceptual field or pattern of stimuli to which a subject has learned to respond. Cue
D005239 Fear The affective response to an actual current external danger which subsides with the elimination of the threatening condition. Threat Cues,Threat Sensitivity,Cue, Threat,Fears,Sensitivity, Threat,Threat Cue,Threat Sensitivities
D000075402 Channelrhodopsins A subfamily of rhodopsin proteins that function as light-gated ion channels in GREEN ALGAE. Channelrhodopsin
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001519 Behavior The observable response of a man or animal to a situation. Acceptance Process,Acceptance Processes,Behaviors,Process, Acceptance,Processes, Acceptance
D013313 Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic A class of traumatic stress disorders with symptoms that last more than one month. Moral Injury,Neuroses, Post-Traumatic,PTSD,Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders,Acute Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,Delayed Onset Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,Neuroses, Posttraumatic,Posttraumatic Stress Disorders,Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic,Stress Disorders, Posttraumatic,Acute Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,Delayed Onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,Injury, Moral,Moral Injuries,Neuroses, Post Traumatic,Post Traumatic Stress Disorders,Post-Traumatic Neuroses,Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,Posttraumatic Neuroses,Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,Stress Disorder, Post-Traumatic,Stress Disorder, Posttraumatic
D017397 Prefrontal Cortex The rostral part of the frontal lobe, bounded by the inferior precentral fissure in humans, which receives projection fibers from the MEDIODORSAL NUCLEUS OF THE THALAMUS. The prefrontal cortex receives afferent fibers from numerous structures of the DIENCEPHALON; MESENCEPHALON; and LIMBIC SYSTEM as well as cortical afferents of visual, auditory, and somatic origin. Anterior Prefrontal Cortex,Brodmann Area 10,Brodmann Area 11,Brodmann Area 12,Brodmann Area 47,Brodmann's Area 10,Brodmann's Area 11,Brodmann's Area 12,Brodmann's Area 47,Pars Orbitalis,Frontal Sulcus,Gyrus Frontalis Inferior,Gyrus Frontalis Superior,Gyrus Orbitalis,Gyrus Rectus,Inferior Frontal Gyrus,Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex,Marginal Gyrus,Medial Frontal Gyrus,Olfactory Sulci,Orbital Area,Orbital Cortex,Orbital Gyri,Orbitofrontal Cortex,Orbitofrontal Gyri,Orbitofrontal Gyrus,Orbitofrontal Region,Rectal Gyrus,Rectus Gyrus,Straight Gyrus,Subcallosal Area,Superior Frontal Convolution,Superior Frontal Gyrus,Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex,Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex,Anterior Prefrontal Cortices,Area 10, Brodmann,Area 10, Brodmann's,Area 11, Brodmann,Area 11, Brodmann's,Area 12, Brodmann,Area 12, Brodmann's,Area 47, Brodmann,Area 47, Brodmann's,Area, Orbital,Area, Subcallosal,Brodmanns Area 10,Brodmanns Area 11,Brodmanns Area 12,Brodmanns Area 47,Convolution, Superior Frontal,Convolutions, Superior Frontal,Cortex, Anterior Prefrontal,Cortex, Lateral Orbitofrontal,Cortex, Orbital,Cortex, Orbitofrontal,Cortex, Prefrontal,Cortex, Ventromedial Prefrontal,Cortices, Ventromedial Prefrontal,Frontal Convolution, Superior,Frontal Gyrus, Inferior,Frontal Gyrus, Medial,Frontal Gyrus, Superior,Frontalis Superior, Gyrus,Gyrus, Inferior Frontal,Gyrus, Marginal,Gyrus, Medial Frontal,Gyrus, Orbital,Gyrus, Orbitofrontal,Gyrus, Rectal,Gyrus, Rectus,Gyrus, Straight,Gyrus, Superior Frontal,Inferior, Gyrus Frontalis,Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortices,Olfactory Sulcus,Orbital Areas,Orbital Cortices,Orbital Gyrus,Orbitalis, Pars,Orbitofrontal Cortex, Lateral,Orbitofrontal Cortices,Orbitofrontal Cortices, Lateral,Orbitofrontal Regions,Prefrontal Cortex, Anterior,Prefrontal Cortex, Ventromedial,Prefrontal Cortices, Anterior,Region, Orbitofrontal,Subcallosal Areas,Sulcus, Frontal,Superior Frontal Convolutions,Superior, Gyrus Frontalis,Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortices

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