Topic: stress encoding

Accumulating evidence has substantiated that various brain functions are encoded by a sparse ensemble of experience-activated neurons. However, it remains elusive whether stress-specific ensembles ever exist and contribute to the pathogenesis of depression. Utilizing activity-dependent viral strategies, here we identified sparse stress ensembles primarily located in the middle part of the lateral hypothalamus (mLH) and the medial part of the lateral habenula (LHbM), which were universally recruited by various stressors. Remarkably, merely silencing these sparse ensembles entirely eliminated th