Embryonic transcription factor expression in mice predicts medial amygdala neuronal identity and sex-specific responses to innate behavioral cues
- The George Washington University, United States
- Children's National Medical Center, United States
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States
Abstract
The medial subnucleus of the amygdala (MeA) plays a central role in processing sensory cues required for innate behaviors. However, whether there is a link between developmental programs and the emergence of inborn behaviors remains unknown. Our previous studies revealed that the telencephalic preoptic area (POA) embryonic niche is a novel source of MeA destined progenitors. Here, we show that the POA is comprised of distinct progenitor pools complementarily marked by the transcription factors Dbx1 and Foxp2. As determined by molecular and electrophysiological criteria this embryonic parcellation predicts postnatal MeA inhibitory neuronal subtype identity. We further find that Dbx1-derived and Foxp2+ cells in the MeA are differentially activated in response to innate behavioral cues in a sex-specific manner. Thus, developmental transcription factor expression is predictive of MeA neuronal identity and sex-specific neuronal responses, providing a potential developmental logic for how innate behaviors could be processed by different MeA neuronal subtypes.
Article and author information
Author details
Julieta E Lischinsky
Funding
National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 NIDA020140)
- Joshua G Corbin
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC P30HD040677)
- Joshua G Corbin
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01 DC012050)
- Joshua G Corbin
National Institute on Drug Abuse (F32 DA035754)
- Katie Sokolowski
Goldwin Foundation Grant for Pediatric Epilepsy
- Judy Liu
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal procedures were approved by the Children's National Medical Center's Institutional Animal Care (Animal Welfare Assurance Number: A3338-01) and Use Committee (IACUC) protocols (#00030435) and conformed to NIH Guidelines for animal use. All surgery was performed under ketamine/xylazine cocktail anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.
Copyright
© 2017, Lischinsky et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Embryonic transcription factor expression in mice predicts medial amygdala neuronal identity and sex-specific responses to innate behavioral cues
eLife 6:e21012.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21012
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