lateral septum

A metabolic function of the hippocampal sharp wave-ripple

The hippocampal formation has been implicated in both cognitive functions as well as the sensing and control of endocrine states. To identify a candidate activity pattern which may link such disparate functions, we simultaneously measured electrophysiological activity from the hippocampus and interstitial glucose concentrations in the body of freely behaving rats. We found that clusters of sharp wave-ripples (SPW-Rs) recorded from both dorsal and ventral hippocampus reliably predicted a decrease in peripheral glucose concentrations within ~10 minutes. This correlation was less dependent on circadian, ultradian, and meal-triggered fluctuations, it could be mimicked with optogenetically induced ripples, and was attenuated by pharmacogenetically suppressing activity of the lateral septum, the major conduit between the hippocampus and subcortical structures. Our findings demonstrate that a novel function of the SPW-R is to modulate peripheral glucose homeostasis and offer a mechanism for the link between sleep disruption and blood glucose dysregulation seen in type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Blood is thicker than water

According to Hamilton’s inclusive fitness hypothesis, kinship is an organizing principle of social behavior. Behavioral evidence supporting this hypothesis includes the ability to recognize kin and the adjustment of behavior based on kin preference with respect to altruism, attachment and care for offspring in insect societies. Despite the fundamental importance of kinship behavior, the underlying neural mechanisms are poorly understood. We repeated behavioral experiments by Hepper on behavioral preference of rats for their kin. Consistent with Hepper’s work, we find a developmental time course for kinship behavior, where rats prefer sibling interactions at young ages and express non-sibling preferences at older ages. In probing the brain areas responsible for this behavior, we find that aspiration lesions of the lateral septum but not control lesions of cingulate cortices eliminate the behavioral preference in young animals for their siblings and in older rats for non-siblings. We then presented awake and anaesthetized rats with odors and calls of age- and status-matched kin (siblings and mothers) and non-kin (non-siblings and non-mothers) conspecifics, while performing in vivo juxta-cellular and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in the lateral septum. We find multisensory (olfactory and auditory) neuronal responses, whereby neurons typically responded preferentially but not exclusively to individual social stimuli. Non-kin-odor responsive neurons were found dorsally, while kin-odor responsive neurons were located in ventrally in the lateral septum. To our knowledge such an ordered representation of response preferences according to kinship has not been previously observed and we refer this organization as nepotopy. Nepotopy could be instrumental in reading out kinship from preferential but not exclusive responses and in the generation of differential behavior according to kinship. Thus, our results are consistent with a role of the lateral septum in organizing mammalian kinship behavior.

Maternally activated connections of the ventral lateral septum reveal input from the posterior intralaminar thalamus

FENS Forum 2024

Sex differences in behavioral and neurochemical effects of amphetamine modulated by vasopressin in the lateral septum

Dysregulation of parvalbumin- and calretinin-expressing neurons in the lateral septum of the Df(16)A+/- mouse model of schizophrenia

Regulation of social behaviors by the lateral septum

Spatial coding by somatostatin and neurotensin neurons in the lateral septum

In vivo fibre photometry reveals increased neural activity in the lateral septum is associated with fleeing social contact in mice

Dysregulation of parvalbumin- and calretinin-expressing neurons in the lateral septum of the Df(16)A+/- mouse model of schizophrenia

FENS Forum 2024

Dysregulation of vasopressin release from the bed nucleus of stria terminalis to the lateral septum promotes social deficits in Shank3B+/- mice

FENS Forum 2024

Exposure to a high-fat diet during adolescence affects the mu opioid receptor gene expression in the lateral septum of adult rats

FENS Forum 2024

Neurotensin and somatostatin cells of lateral septum are involved in the complementary regulation of social and feeding behaviors

FENS Forum 2024

Role of CRF signalling in the lateral septum system in the regulation of social fear extinction

FENS Forum 2024

TRPM8+ neurons in the mouse lateral septum support motivated responses to thermal discomfort

FENS Forum 2024