Dorsal Periaqueductal gray ensembles represent approach and avoidance states
- University of California, Los Angeles, United States
- Universidade Federal do ABC, Brazil
- University of São Paulo, Brazil
Abstract
Animals must balance needs to approach threats for risk-assessment and to avoid danger. The dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG) controls defensive behaviors, but it is unknown how it represents states associated with threat approach and avoidance. We identified a dPAG threat-avoidance ensemble in mice that showed higher activity far from threats such as the open arms of the elevated plus maze and a live predator. These cells were also more active during threat-avoidance behaviors such as escape and freezing, even though these behaviors have antagonistic motor output. Conversely, the threat-approach ensemble was more active during risk-assessment behaviors and near threats. Furthermore, unsupervised methods showed that avoidance/approach states were encoded with shared activity patterns across threats. Lastly, the relative number of cells in each ensemble predicted threat-avoidance across mice. Thus, dPAG ensembles dynamically encode threat approach and avoidance states, providing a flexible mechanism to balance risk-assessment and danger avoidance.
Data availability
All data was uploaded to dryad and all code was uploaded to github.https://datadryad.org/stash/share/4GezSjw4dvDJClAWa_zRoNWioH9qzGtDCJjLQ89HVoAhttps://doi.org/10.5068/D1TM2Ghttps://github.com/schuettepeter/eLife_dPAG-ensembles-represent-approach-and-avoidance-states
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Data from: Dorsal Periaqueductal gray ensembles represent approach and avoidance statesDryad Digital Repository, 10.5068/D1TM2G.
Article and author information
Author details
Sandra Maesta-Pereira
Funding
National Institutes of Health (R00 MH106649)
- Avishek Adhikari
National Institutes of Health (F31 MH121050-01A1)
- Mimi Q La-Vu
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation
- Mimi Q La-Vu
National Institutes of Health (R01 MH119089)
- Avishek Adhikari
Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (22663)
- Avishek Adhikari
Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (27654)
- Fernando MCV Reis
National Science Foundation (DGE-1650604)
- Peter J Schuette
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2015/23092-3)
- Fernando MCV Reis
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2017/08668-1)
- Fernando MCV Reis
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2014/05432-9)
- Newton S Canteras
Hellman Foundation
- Avishek Adhikari
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 procedures have been approved by the University of California, Los Angeles Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, protocols 2017-011 and 2017-075.
Copyright
© 2021, Reis 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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Dorsal Periaqueductal gray ensembles represent approach and avoidance states
eLife 10:e64934.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.64934
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