Abstract
The ability to adjust defensive behavior is critical for animal survival in dynamic environments. However, neural circuits underlying the modulation of innate defensive behavior remain not well-understood. In particular, environmental threats are commonly associated with cues of multiple sensory modalities. It remains to be investigated how these modalities interact to shape defensive behavior. In this study, we report that auditory-induced defensive flight behavior can be facilitated by somatosensory input in mice. This cross-modality modulation of defensive behavior is mediated by the projection from the primary somatosensory cortex (SSp) to the ventral sector of zona incerta (ZIv). Parvalbumin (PV)-positive neurons in ZIv, receiving direct input from SSp, mediate the enhancement of the flight behavior via their projections to the medial posterior complex of thalamus (POm). Thus, defensive flight can be enhanced in a somatosensory context-dependent manner via recruiting PV neurons in ZIv, which may be important for increasing survival of prey animals.
Highlights
Defensive behaviors are critical for animal survival
Tactile stimulation was applied by deflecting whiskers unilaterally with a cotton stick controlled by a piezo actuator (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A)
We demonstrate that additional tactile stimulation enhances flight behavior triggered by threats such as loud noise
Summary
Defensive behaviors are critical for animal survival. They are dynamic and adaptive, as environmental contexts, properties and intensity of threats, as well as expectations from past experiences can all modulate the form as well as the magnitude of defensive behaviors (Fanselow, 1994; Gross and Canteras, 2012; Tovote et al, 2016). Previous studies have mostly been focused on defensive behaviors initiated under stimulation of one individual sensory modality (Fanselow and LeDoux, 1999; Yilmaz and Meister, 2013). We designed experiments to examine whether tactile input can affect a well-established auditory-induced defensive behavior (Fanselow and LeDoux, 1999; Tovote et al, 2016). Our recent study has shown that GABAergic neurons in the rostral sector of ZI (ZIr) play a role in reducing defensive behavior in an experience-dependent manner (Chou et al, 2018). We investigated whether somatosensory input through whisker stimulation could modulate defensive behavior via recruiting ZIv PV + neurons
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