法国马让迪神经中心Cyril Herry和Daniel Jercog课题组合作取得新进展。他们发现防御行为期间的动态前额叶群体编码。该研究于2021年7月14日发表于国际一流学术期刊《自然》杂志上。
他们使用细胞外记录、神经元解码方法、药理学和光遗传学操作的组合来表明，在小鼠中，威胁表征和回避行为的启动是在背内侧前额叶皮层 (dmPFC)神经元的整个群体活动中动态编码的。他们的数据表明，尽管 dmPFC 在刺激开始时的群体活动编码了由杏仁核驱动的持续威胁表征，但它并不能预测行为输出。相比之下，行动开始前的瞬态 dmPFC 群体活动可靠地预测了非回避试验的回避行为。因此，前额叶活动的光遗传学抑制以时间依赖性方式限制了适应性防御反应的选择。这些结果表明，防御反应的适应性选择依赖于将威胁与防御行动联系起来的动态过程，在前额叶网络中展开。
据介绍，应对威胁情况既需要识别预测危险的刺激，也需要选择适应性行为反应来生存。dmPFC是一个关键结构，参与威胁相关行为的调节 。然而，尚不清楚威胁预测刺激和防御行为如何在前额叶网络中关联以成功驱动适应性反应。
附：英文原文
Title: Dynamical prefrontal population coding during defensive behaviours
Author: Daniel Jercog, Nanci Winke, Kibong Sung, Mario Martin Fernandez, Claire Francioni, Domitille Rajot, Julien Courtin, Fabrice Chaudun, Pablo E. Jercog, Stephane Valerio, Cyril Herry
Issue&Volume: 2021-07-14
Abstract: Coping with threatening situations requires both identifying stimuli that predict danger and selecting adaptive behavioural responses to survive1. The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) is a critical structure that is involved in the regulation of threat-related behaviour2,3,4. However, it is unclear how threat-predicting stimuli and defensive behaviours are associated within prefrontal networks to successfully drive adaptive responses. Here we used a combination of extracellular recordings, neuronal decoding approaches, pharmacological and optogenetic manipulations to show that, in mice, threat representations and the initiation of avoidance behaviour are dynamically encoded in the overall population activity of dmPFC neurons. Our data indicate that although dmPFC population activity at stimulus onset encodes sustained threat representations driven by the amygdala, it does not predict action outcome. By contrast, transient dmPFC population activity before the initiation of action reliably predicts avoided from non-avoided trials. Accordingly, optogenetic inhibition of prefrontal activity constrained the selection of adaptive defensive responses in a time-dependent manner. These results reveal that the adaptive selection of defensive responses relies on a dynamic process of information linking threats with defensive actions, unfolding within prefrontal networks.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03726-6
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03726-6
Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html
本期文章：《自然》：Online/在线发表
