小柯机器人

美国加州理工学院David J. Anderson小组的研究发现下丘脑的不同区域调控同性和异性小鼠的攀爬行为。2020年12月2日，《自然》杂志在线发表了这项成果。

研究人员发现实验室雄性小鼠对雌性和雄性的攀爬行为可通过是否存在超声发声（USVs）来区分。这些和其他行为数据表明，大多数雄性主导的攀爬行为都是攻击性的，尽管在极少数情况下可能是性行为。研究人员探究了USV⁺和USV^-攀爬是否受控于相同或不同的下丘脑神经基质。对内视前区（MPOA）或腹膜下丘脑、腹侧细分（VMHvl）中雌激素受体1（ESR1）阳性神经元的显微内窥镜成像表明在USV⁺和USV^-攀爬过程中神经元活动的独特模式可以从任一地区的小鼠活动中解码出该行为。表达ESR1的MPOA神经元和小泡GABA转运蛋白（VGAT）（MPOAESR1∩VGAT神经元）的交叉光遗传学刺激显著促进USV⁺攀爬，并将雄性定向攻击转换为USV攀爬。

相比之下，刺激表达ESR1的VMHv1神经元（VMHvlESR1神经元）促进了USV^-攀爬行为，并抑制了雌性尿液诱发的USV。终末刺激实验表明，这些互补的抑制作用是由MPOA和VMHv1之间的交互干扰介导的。总之，这些数据确定了在遗传上富含因果诱导雄性生殖行为状态的下丘脑神经元亚群，其可分为由MPOAESR1调控的生殖神经元亚群和由VMHvlESR1调控的侵袭神经元亚群。因此，表达不同内涵的相似行为是由不同下丘脑神经元亚群调控的。

据介绍，表面上相似的动物行为在不同的背景下可表达不同的意图，但是在神经回路水平上如何实现这种灵活性尚不清楚。例如，许多物种的雄性可能表现出对同性或异性做出攀爬行为，但目前尚不清楚这些行为的意图和神经编码机制是相似还是不同。

附：英文原文

Title: Distinct hypothalamic control of same- and opposite-sex mounting behaviour in mice

Author: Tomomi Karigo, Ann Kennedy, Bin Yang, Mengyu Liu, Derek Tai, Iman A. Wahle, David J. Anderson

Issue&Volume: 2020-12-02

Abstract: Animal behaviours that are superficially similar can express different intents in different contexts, but how this flexibility is achieved at the level of neural circuits is not understood. For example, males of many species can exhibit mounting behaviour towards same- or opposite-sex conspecifics1, but it is unclear whether the intent and neural encoding of these behaviours are similar or different. Here we show that female- and male-directed mounting in male laboratory mice are distinguishable by the presence or absence of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs)2,3,4, respectively. These and additional behavioural data suggest that most male-directed mounting is aggressive, although in rare cases it can be sexual. We investigated whether USV+ and USV mounting use the same or distinct hypothalamic neural substrates. Micro-endoscopic imaging of neurons positive for oestrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) in either the medial preoptic area (MPOA) or the ventromedial hypothalamus, ventrolateral subdivision (VMHvl) revealed distinct patterns of neuronal activity during USV+ and USV mounting, and the type of mounting could be decoded from population activity in either region. Intersectional optogenetic stimulation of MPOA neurons that express ESR1 and vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) (MPOAESR1∩VGAT neurons) robustly promoted USV+ mounting, and converted male-directed attack to mounting with USVs. By contrast, stimulation of VMHvl neurons that express ESR1 (VMHvlESR1 neurons) promoted USV mounting, and inhibited the USVs evoked by female urine. Terminal stimulation experiments suggest that these complementary inhibitory effects are mediated by reciprocal projections between the MPOA and VMHvl. Together, these data identify a hypothalamic subpopulation that is genetically enriched for neurons that causally induce a male reproductive behavioural state, and indicate that reproductive and aggressive states are represented by distinct population codes distributed between MPOAESR1 and VMHvlESR1 neurons, respectively. Thus, similar behaviours that express different internal states are encoded by distinct hypothalamic neuronal populations.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2995-0

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2995-0

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