Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state
Defensive behaviors reflect underlying emotion states, such as fear. The hypothalamus plays a role in such behaviors, but prevailing textbook views depict it as an effector of upstream emotion centers, such as the amygdala, rather than as an emotion center itself. We used optogenetic manipulations t...
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doaj-4639e3c9b29b4c948abbb908199707292021-05-04T23:41:23ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2015-03-01410.7554/eLife.06633Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion statePrabhat S Kunwar0Moriel Zelikowsky1Ryan Remedios2Haijiang Cai3Melis Yilmaz4Markus Meister5David J Anderson6Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United StatesDefensive behaviors reflect underlying emotion states, such as fear. The hypothalamus plays a role in such behaviors, but prevailing textbook views depict it as an effector of upstream emotion centers, such as the amygdala, rather than as an emotion center itself. We used optogenetic manipulations to probe the function of a specific hypothalamic cell type that mediates innate defensive responses. These neurons are sufficient to drive multiple defensive actions, and required for defensive behaviors in diverse contexts. The behavioral consequences of activating these neurons, moreover, exhibit properties characteristic of emotion states in general, including scalability, (negative) valence, generalization and persistence. Importantly, these neurons can also condition learned defensive behavior, further refuting long-standing claims that the hypothalamus is unable to support emotional learning and therefore is not an emotion center. These data indicate that the hypothalamus plays an integral role to instantiate emotion states, and is not simply a passive effector of upstream emotion centers.https://elifesciences.org/articles/06633fearemotiondefenseventromedial hypothalamuspersistancescalability |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Prabhat S Kunwar Moriel Zelikowsky Ryan Remedios Haijiang Cai Melis Yilmaz Markus Meister David J Anderson |
spellingShingle |
Prabhat S Kunwar Moriel Zelikowsky Ryan Remedios Haijiang Cai Melis Yilmaz Markus Meister David J Anderson Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state eLife fear emotion defense ventromedial hypothalamus persistance scalability |
author_facet |
Prabhat S Kunwar Moriel Zelikowsky Ryan Remedios Haijiang Cai Melis Yilmaz Markus Meister David J Anderson |
author_sort |
Prabhat S Kunwar |
title |
Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state |
title_short |
Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state |
title_full |
Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state |
title_fullStr |
Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state |
title_sort |
ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state |
publisher |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
series |
eLife |
issn |
2050-084X |
publishDate |
2015-03-01 |
description |
Defensive behaviors reflect underlying emotion states, such as fear. The hypothalamus plays a role in such behaviors, but prevailing textbook views depict it as an effector of upstream emotion centers, such as the amygdala, rather than as an emotion center itself. We used optogenetic manipulations to probe the function of a specific hypothalamic cell type that mediates innate defensive responses. These neurons are sufficient to drive multiple defensive actions, and required for defensive behaviors in diverse contexts. The behavioral consequences of activating these neurons, moreover, exhibit properties characteristic of emotion states in general, including scalability, (negative) valence, generalization and persistence. Importantly, these neurons can also condition learned defensive behavior, further refuting long-standing claims that the hypothalamus is unable to support emotional learning and therefore is not an emotion center. These data indicate that the hypothalamus plays an integral role to instantiate emotion states, and is not simply a passive effector of upstream emotion centers. |
topic |
fear emotion defense ventromedial hypothalamus persistance scalability |
url |
https://elifesciences.org/articles/06633 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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1721476847320956928 |