Lateral hypothalamic glutamatergic inputs to VTA glutamatergic neurons mediate prioritization of innate defensive behavior over feeding.

ABSTRACT: The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is involved in feeding behavior and defense responses by interacting with different brain structures, including the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA). Emerging evidence indicates that LH-glutamatergic neurons infrequently synapse on VTA-dopamine neurons but preferentially establish multiple synapses on VTA-glutamatergic neurons. Here, we demonstrated that LH-glutamatergic inputs to VTA promoted active avoidance, long-term aversion, and escape attempts. By testing feeding in the presence of a predator, we observed that ongoing feeding was decreased, and that this predator-induced decrease in feeding was abolished by photoinhibition of the LH-glutamatergic inputs to VTA. By VTA specific neuronal ablation, we established that predator-induced decreases in feeding were

SUBMITTER: Barbano MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10776608 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature