PUBLICATION
A cerebellar-prepontine circuit for tonic immobility triggered by an inescapable threat
- Authors
- Bhandiwad, A.A., Chu, N.C., Semenova, S.A., Holmes, G.A., Burgess, H.A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-220930-1
- Date
- 2022
- Source
- Science advances 8: eabo0549 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Burgess, Harold
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
- none
- PubMed
- 36170356 Full text @ Sci Adv
Citation
Bhandiwad, A.A., Chu, N.C., Semenova, S.A., Holmes, G.A., Burgess, H.A. (2022) A cerebellar-prepontine circuit for tonic immobility triggered by an inescapable threat. Science advances. 8:eabo0549.
Abstract
Sudden changes in the environment are frequently perceived as threats and provoke defensive behavioral states. One such state is tonic immobility, a conserved defensive strategy characterized by powerful suppression of movement and motor reflexes. Tonic immobility has been associated with multiple brainstem regions, but the underlying circuit is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that a strong vibratory stimulus evokes tonic immobility in larval zebrafish defined by suppressed locomotion and sensorimotor responses. Using a circuit-breaking screen and targeted neuron ablations, we show that cerebellar granule cells and a cluster of glutamatergic ventral prepontine neurons (vPPNs) that express key stress-associated neuropeptides are critical components of the circuit that suppresses movement. The complete sensorimotor circuit transmits information from sensory ganglia through the cerebellum to vPPNs to regulate reticulospinal premotor neurons. These results show that cerebellar regulation of a neuropeptide-rich prepontine structure governs a conserved and ancestral defensive behavior that is triggered by an inescapable threat.
Genes / Markers
Expression
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Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
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