Topic: anterograde tracing

Beyond the renowned roles in motivation regulation, recent wave of studies has revealed that the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN) are also involved in regulating defensive behaviors. More recently, the zona incerta (ZI), an overlooked midbrain downstream and functionally mysterious inhibitory nucleus, has been reported to play a role in modulating defensive behaviors. Despite that the ventral midbrain sends projection to the ZI, the neurochemical phenotypes of cells involved in the connection remain poorly understood.Thus we employed retrograde and anterograde tracing app

Knowing how to behave in the presence of an aggressive conspecific is essential for an individual's survival. For many rodents, olfactory cues are crucial for the animal to identify conspecifics and behave properly. An important region for the expression of social defense is the medial amygdala (MeA). This brain region receives projections from neurons in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) and processes olfactory cues from conspecifics. The MeA is enriched by glutamatergic (VGLUT2) and GABAergic (VGAT) neurons. Interestingly, GABAergic neurons are predominantly located in the posterodorsal par