Dynamic integration of space and social status in the mammalian hypothalamus
Dorian Battivelli, Lucas Boldrini, Mohit Jaiswal, Pradnya Patil, Sofia Torchia, Elizabeth Engelen, Luca Spagnoletti, Sarah Kaspar, Cornelius Gross · FENS Forum 2024
Work has shown that the ventrolateral division of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) encodes a generalized state of social threat and is necessary and sufficient for producing both social aggression and avoidance. However, it remains unclear how the selection between aggression and avoidance occurs and how this selection might support the animal's adaptation to its environment.We have shown that neurons in VMHvl that fire in the context of social defeat are reactivated when the animal explores the location where the defeat occurred, even in absence of the aggressor. At the neural population