Topic: lateral periaqueductal gray

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

Recent studies have shown that the zona incerta (ZI) plays a key role in modulating defensive behaviors. Accumulation of evidence in the lab has revealed that stress or potential threat engages substantia nigra-to-zona incerta (SN-to-ZI) input to promote defensive behavior. Nevertheless, how the SN-to-ZI input recruits its downstream regions to regulate defensive behavior remains unclear. To address this question, we examine the functional recruitment of SN-to-ZI input by combining excitatory optogenetic manipulation with neural activity marker c-Fos staining to map involved downstream brain r