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Controlling your urges: the neural circuit basis
of instinctive behavior adaptation| old_uid | 14529 |
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| title | Controlling your urges: the neural circuit basis
of instinctive behavior adaptation |
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| start_date | 2017/10/16 |
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| schedule | 11h-12h |
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| online | no |
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| details | Hosted by Alberto Bacci |
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| summary | The expression of defensive responses to social and predator threats depends on evolutionarily ancient behavioral circuits located in the medial hypothalamus. It has been proposed that neural activity in these hypothalamic circuits encodes an internal state that may be related to the emotion that accompanies human fear. Moreover, although instinctive behaviors are innate, animals are to some degree able of control them to adapt their behaviors to their environment. Little is known about the plasticity mechanisms involved in such instinct control and how maladaptation of these behaviors, a major hallmark of psychiatric disorders, might arise. We have shown that the prefrontal cortex makes direct projections to the instinctive defense circuitry at the level of the brainstem and that these inputs are able to suppress social defensive responses and favor social interaction. Importantly, we found that animals are able to dynamically regulate these inputs to adapt their defensive behaviors to changing social environment. Finally, we have mapped the cell-type specific physiological and molecular plasticity in the prefrontal cortex that supports these adaptive changes. This work shows how innate behaviors can be reshaped by plasticity in cortical modulatory networks and has implications for reversing and managing pathologies related to aberrant instinctive behaviors. |
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| responsibles | Oliviero |
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