Description
Fear perception, a crucial survival feature, enables animals to respond to potential environmental threats. It has been shown that the threat signal goes from the sensory system (through the superior colliculus (SC) and thalamus) to the amygdala and then enters the periaqueductal gray (PAG), resulting in different escaping behaviors. Studying fear perception in new animal models provides a better understanding of the threat processing circuit and its ubiquitous versus species-specific components. One such new model system is African mole-rats, which exhibit fascinating behavioral and physiological characteristics. Mole-rats spend their entire life in self-dug underground burrow systems that are generally considered safe compared to the more unpredictable environments of epigeic (above-ground living) rodents. This ecological context provides a unique opportunity to explore different perceptual mechanisms in mole-rats compared to traditional model organisms.
We investigate the role of the SC and PAG in fear perception in the rodent brain. We have performed electrophysiology recordings in head-fixed mole-rats receiving threat stimuli and compared their neuronal activities with the mouse. In the first experiment, we recorded 1010 single units from one mole-rat using a Neuropixels probe and tested responses to flashing light, sweep-looming stimuli, and frequency sweep-up audio stimuli. We found that mole-rats SC and PAG neurons respond to fearful stimuli. Moreover, we observed laminar-specific responses in mole-rat SC where the auditory responsive cells are located more in the deep layers, and the visually responsive cells appear along the SC. Our preliminary results suggest the existence of multimodal encoding neurons in mole-rat SC and PAG, responding to both visual and auditory stimulation. This comparative approach allows us to identify shared neural mechanisms and potential species-specific adaptations that have evolved in response to environmental threats.
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