Transforming Sensory Cues into Aversive Emotion via Septal-Habenular Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Emotions evoked by environmental cues are important for animal survival and life quality. However, neural circuits responsible for transforming sensory signals to aversive emotion and behavioral avoidance remain unclear. Here, we found that medial septum (MS) mediates aversion induced by both auditory and somatosensory stimuli. Ablation of glutamatergic or GABAergic MS neurons results in impaired or strengthened aversion, respectively. Optogenetic activation of the two cell types results in place avoidance and preference, respectively. Cell-type-specific screening reveals that glutamatergic MS projections to the lateral habenula (LHb) are responsible for the induction of aversion, which can be antagonized by GABAergic MS projections to LHb. Additionally, the sensory-induced place avoidance

SUBMITTER: Zhang GW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6126968 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature