Poster preview
ePoster
A BASAL GANGLIA CIRCUIT FOR LEARNING TO SUPPRESS ESCAPE BEHAVIOUR
Stephen Lenziand 4 co-authors
Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS06-09PM-423
Presentation
Date TBA
Board: PS06-09PM-423
Event Information
Poster Board
PS06-09PM-423
Poster
View posterAbstract
Escape responses to innately threatening stimuli can be learned to be suppressed and reflect a flexible decision making process that is dependent on recent experience. Here in mice we find that dopaminergic input from the Substantia Nigra pars Lateralis/Compacta (SNL/SNC) onto the Tail of the Striatum (TS) forms a circuit that gates experience-dependent suppression of escape.
We first show that chemical lesions of the TS abolish escape. Fibre photometry recordings reveal that dopaminergic inputs from SNL/SNC to the TS exhibit robust Ca2+ responses to looming stimuli that correlated with escape probability and were reduced during and following Learned Suppression of Escape (LSE). In contrast, in mice where the learning protocol was ineffective and LSE did not occur, there was no attenuation in SNL/SNC input signals. Furthermore, during the learning protocol, optogenetic activation of SNL/SNC fibres within the TS reduced the likelihood of escape suppression.
In the TS, Ca2+ signals in D1 neurons showed robust responses to looming stimuli that correlated with escape probability and vigour. Although both TS D1 and D2 responses attenuated during LSE, in cases where mice failed to suppress escape, TS D1 but not D2 responses were maintained. A simple biologically plausible two-rule learning model suggests that plasticity mechanisms drive changes in TS-D1 signalling that can implement either reinforcement or attenuation of escape in an experience-dependent manner. Together these results place the SNL/SNC and TS as a circuit hub for integrating threat and experience signals to modulate escape decisions.Recommended posters
AN ALTERNATIVE NEURAL PATHWAY FOR ESCAPE BEHAVIOUR: THE PARABIGEMINAL–SUPERIOR COLLICULUS CIRCUIT
Camilla Lodetti, Cinar Furkan Ilhan, Anna Carboncino, Katja Reinhard
NIGRO-COLLICULAR PATHWAYS FOR APPETITIVE AND THREAT RESPONSES
Nuo Dong, Andres C. Vieira, Nicola Gritti, Jim Swoger, Hernando M. Vergara
A CORTICO-BASAL GANGLIA CIRCUIT WITHHOLDS IMPULSIVE ACTIONS TO ENABLE PROLONGED EVIDENCE EVALUATION
Michael Lohse, Hannah Davies, Maja T. Quigley, Paige Windmill, Andrei Khilkevich, Thomas D. Mrsic-Flogel
A DORSOSTRIATAL-CANNABINOID CIRCUIT FOR IMMINENT THREAT PROCESSING IN THE BRAIN
Rui S Rodrigues, Camille Humeau, Doriane Gisquet, Sandra Beriain, Paula Gómez-Sotres, Astrid Cannich, Antoine Besnard, Luigi Bellocchio, Giovanni Marsicano
FROM FEAR TO ACTION: BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA–NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS CIRCUIT MECHANISMS IN AVOIDANCE LEARNING
Mehdi Sicre, Joshua Johansen
INHIBITORY MECHANISMS DRIVE HABITUATION IN A VISUAL ESCAPE CIRCUIT
Maria Constanza Gonzalez Ramirez, Jang HyoJong, Hayle Croke, Catherine von Reyn, Michaela Fenckova