ZPVMH · Synaptic integration in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus in aggressive behaviour
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-06-01 → 2018-03-17
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Synaptic integration in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus in aggressive behaviour
Generating appropriate behavioural responses to sensory cues is crucial to ensure the survival of species, and it is a primary skill that has evolved over millions of years. Aggression is one of such essential behaviours, and animals are frequently faced with a decision of whether to engage in a fight over food, shelter, and mates. One of the main goals in Neuroscience is to understand how the brain performs the computations underlying these decisions, and in particular, how specific sensory cues are processed and transformed into relevant behavioural responses. In order to understand the neural computations underlying a specific behaviour one requires detailed knowledge of the neurons and circuits involved and how their biophysical properties are used for processing information. We used mice as a model and focused on understanding the neural computations in aggressive behaviour. Aggressive behaviour is essential for animals to ensure their survival, however when inappropriately expressed can be detrimental to the animal's health and well-being. In both mice and in humans, the neurons responsible for aggression are located in the hypothalamus area of the brain. Using the state of art techniques such as electrophysiology, calcium imaging and CRISPR/Cas9 manipulations we looked at specific populations of neurons in the mouse hypothalamus to determine the mechanistic explanation of their activity during aggressive behaviour. Our findings provide answers to fundamental questions, such as understanding how the brain processes information from the outside world and converts it in into behaviour, as well as could lead to potential treatments for controlling aggression.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Generating appropriate behavioural responses to sensory cues is crucial to ensure the survival of species, and relies on synaptic integration – the process by which individual neurons convert synaptic input into action potential output. How the brain performs the computations that produce specific behaviours is an essential question in Neuroscience and has direct relevance to human health and well-being. The aim of this project is to determine mechanisms of synaptic integration in a circuit underlying aggressive behaviour in the mouse, and analyse how single neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) contribute to computations leading to aggressive behaviour. By combining behavioural, genetic, electrophysiological and optical techniques, this project will determine: (i) the biophysical properties and local connectivity of VMH neurons, (ii) the anatomical localization of synaptic inputs along their dendritic tree, and (iii) how VMH neurons that drive aggressive behaviour integrate synaptic input from anatomically and molecularly-defined pathways. Recent in vitro studies have uncovered a previously unknown degree of complexity of information processing that single neurons can perform. While a lot of these studies combining electrophysiological, optical and computational approaches have focused on cortical circuits important for learned behaviours, innate behaviours have not benefited from such experimental and analysis framework. This project will become the first to implement such multidisciplinary approach to determine the mechanisms of synaptic integration in the hypothalamus. The results of this study will provide mechanisms of how VMH neurons generate patterns of activity that lead to aggression, which will advance our understanding of information processing in fundamental innate circuits and contribute to development of solutions for control of aggressive behaviour.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LondonCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
- UNITED KINGDOM RESEARCH AND INNOVATION · SWINDONUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union