Neural substrates underlying fear-evoked freezing: the periaqueductal grey-cerebellar link.

ABSTRACT: The central neural pathways involved in fear-evoked behaviour are highly conserved across mammalian species, and there is a consensus that understanding them is a fundamental step towards developing effective treatments for emotional disorders in man. The ventrolateral periaqueductal grey (vlPAG) has a well-established role in fear-evoked freezing behaviour. The neural pathways underlying autonomic and sensory consequences of vlPAG activation in fearful situations are well understood, but much less is known about the pathways that link vlPAG activity to distinct fear-evoked motor patterns essential for survival. In adult rats, we have identified a pathway linking the vlPAG to cerebellar cortex, which terminates as climbing fibres in lateral vermal lobule VIII (pyramis). Lesion of pyramis i

SUBMITTER: Koutsikou S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4027863 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature