Propofol anesthesia sensitivity largely depends on neuronal GABAA receptors. Here, the authors show that microglia-dependent PDGFB signaling controls propofol anesthesia induction by modulating KCND2 ...

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) exerts top-down control over distributed neural systems to coordinate cognition, emotion, and motivated behavior, with the midlin...

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a chronic complication resulting from diabetes that leads to pain and sensory abnormalities, significantly impacting the quality of life for affected patients.…

Abstract figure legend Neonatal maternal separation (NMS, P3–P12) induces long-term alterations in respiratory control and region-specific mitochondrial remodelling along the paraventricular hypothal...

The nucleus reuniens (RE), paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), and perirhinal cortex (PRC), which have reciprocal connections with both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus (...

【Cell Rep】Early-life adversity (ELA) is strongly linked to emotional disorders characterized by dysregulated reward behaviors. How

Early-life adversity (ELA) is a strong risk factor for psychiatric disorders characterized by disrupted reward processing, yet the neural mechanisms linking early-life experience to adult behavior…

Floriou-Servou et al. analyze reward-induced active gene translation in paraventricular thalamus (PVT) cells that are selectively activated during early-life adversity and find a role of Crhr1. By del...

Read the full paper: Peptide signaling in the paraventricular thalamus is essential for disrupted adult reward behaviors consequent to early-life adversity

The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has emerged as an important node in circuits regulating motivated behavior. The neuronal pathway from the lateral hypothalamus (LH) to the PVT has bee...

Prolonged oxycodone abstinence strengthens paraventricular thalamus to nucleus accumbens shell glutamatergic transmission in both sexes, yet only females show enhanced relapse, dissociating shared synaptic...

Read the full paper: Paraventricular Thalamus Neurons Encode Early-life Stress and Execute Consequent Sex-specific Disruptions of Adult Reward Behaviors

The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has emerged as an important node in circuits regulating motivated behavior. The neuronal pathway from the lateral hypothalamus (LH) to the PVT has been shown to regulate arousal, feeding, and reward seeking. However, the involvement of the LH–PVT pathway in individual differences in cue-motivated behavior remains unclear. During a pavlovian conditioned approach (PavCA) paradigm, when a reward is repeatedly preceded by the presentation of a cue, rats come to exhibit a conditioned response to the cue. One extreme of the population, sign-trackers (STs), approaches and interacts with the cue itself, while the other extreme, goal-trackers (GTs), approaches the location of reward delivery. Intermediate responders (IRs) approach and interact with both the cue and reward location, without a preference. We utilized a PavCA paradigm in male rats to examine the effects of LH–PVT pathway inhibition on individual differences in cue-motivated behavior. A dual-vector approach was used to express inhibitory chemogenetic receptors in the LH–PVT pathway. We found that inhibition of the LH–PVT pathway selectively attenuates the expression of goal-tracking behavior, without affecting sign-tracking. This effect is driven primarily by IR rats, as inhibition of LH–PVT neurons attenuates goal-tracking behavior in IRs, without impacting the response of STs or GTs. We speculate that the flexibility of responding in IR rats made them especially vulnerable to this manipulation. These findings identify the LH–PVT pathway as a selective contributor to reward-directed conditioned responding and a circuit substrate for behavioral flexibility.

Deconstruct the central control hub of homeostatic regulation with our high-yield quiz on The Hypothalamus. Challenge yourself on the anatomical boundaries, functional nuclear groupings (lateral, ventromedial, anterior, posterior, SCN, supraoptic, paraventricular, arcuate), hypothalamic-pituitary pathways, thermal regulation, and clinical pathologies resulting from hypothalamic dysfunction.

Gao et al. identify an insular cortex–paraventricular nucleus circuit that drives post-stroke neutrophil mobilisation from bone marrow via sympathetic β2-a

Dai et al. identify stress-responsive neuropeptide Y receptor Y1-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus that engage the dorsal vagal complex to suppress feeding and delay gastr...

Dai et al. identify stress-responsive neuropeptide Y receptor Y1-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus that engage the dorsal vagal complex to suppress feeding and delay gastric emptying. Inhibiting this pathway alleviates these stress-induced responses, revealing a hypothalamic-brainstem circuit coordinating feeding and gastric function during acute stress.

IntroductionFear learning is critical for organisms to respond appropriately to potentially harmful stimuli. In cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD...

Read the full paper: α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor activation promotes anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors associated with CREB/CRH signaling in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus