Flexible inhibitory control of visually evoked defensive behavior by the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.09.003
• Publication Date: 2021-10-05T21:04:36Z
• Authors: Alex Fratzl; Alice M. Koltchev; Nicole Vissers; Yu Lin Tan; Andre Marques-Smith; A. Vanessa Stempel; Tiago Branco; Sonja B. Hofer
• Keywords: Lateral geniculate nucleus; Geniculate; Inhibitory control; Geniculate body

Animals can choose to act upon, or ignore, sensory stimuli, depending on circumstance and prior knowledge. This flexibility is thought depend neural inhibition, through suppression of inappropriate disinhibition appropriate actions. Here, we identified the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN), an inhibitory prethalamic area, as a critical node for control visually evoked defensive responses in mice. The activity vLGN projections medial superior colliculus (mSC) modulated by previous experience threatening tracks perceived threat level environment, low escape from visual threat. Optogenetic stimulation abolishes responses, suppressing its lowers threshold increases risk-avoidance behavior. most strongly affects potentially via modality-specific inhibition mSC circuits. Thus, circuits behavior, animal's anticipation danger environment.