Distinct circuits in anterior cingulate cortex encode safety assessment and mediate flexibility of fear reactions.

ABSTRACT: Safety assessment and threat evaluation are crucial for animals to live and survive in the wilderness. However, neural circuits underlying safety assessment and their transformation to mediate flexibility of fear-induced defensive behaviors remain largely unknown. Here, we report that distinct neuronal populations in mouse anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) encode safety status by selectively responding under different contexts of auditory threats, with one preferably activated when an animal staysing in a self-deemed safe zone and another specifically activated in more dangerous environmental settings that led to escape behavior. The safety-responding neurons preferentially target the zona incerta (ZI), which suppresses the superior colliculus (SC) via its GABAergic projection, while the dan

SUBMITTER: Wu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10990237 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature