Dorsal Periaqueductal gray ensembles represent approach and avoidance states

Abstract
Data availability
Article and author information
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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

The following data sets were generated

1. Adhikari A et al
(2021) Data from: Dorsal Periaqueductal gray ensembles represent approach and avoidance states
Dryad Digital Repository, 10.5068/D1TM2G.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5068/D1TM2G

Article and author information

Author details

Fernando MCV Reis

Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

For correspondence
freis@ucla.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0121-2887
Johannes Y Lee

Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2420-4916
Sandra Maesta-Pereira

Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6522-8311
Peter J Schuette

Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Meghmik Chakerian

Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Jinhan Liu

Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Mimi Q La-Vu

Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Brooke C Tobias

Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2043-9523
Juliane M Ikebara

Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição, Universidade Federal do ABC, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Alexandre Hiroaki Kihara

Center of Mathematics, Computing and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André, Brazil

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Newton S Canteras

Department of Anatomy, University of São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7205-5372
Jonathan C Kao

Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

For correspondence
kao@seas.ucla.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9298-0143
Avishek Adhikari

Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

For correspondence
avi@psych.ucla.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9187-9211

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

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.