The role of interneurons in food and prey detection

• Grant number: 23/05966-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Hiroaki Kihara
• Grantee: Renata Silva Jorge
• Supervisor: Avishek Adhikari
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/16011-0 - Evaluation of the effects of environmental enrichment on parvalbumin interneurons and extracellular matrix in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of rats, BP.IC

Abstract

Abnormalities in feeding behaviors are a key symptom of several conditions, including binge eating disorder, anorexia and obesity. In order to develop novel treatments, it is imperative to gain a deeper understanding of the circuits controlling adaptive feeding. Eating is affected by metabolic and hedonic features, consisting of several actions, including exploratory food-seeking and consumption. Despite its central clinical and biological importance, networks controlling these behaviors are not well-understood. Prior data have indicated that activation of several GABAergic inputs to the midbrain lateral and ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (l/vlPAG) elicits the hunting of insects in mice. However, the role of local l/vlPAG GABAergic cells in feeding is unknown. In this project, combining advances in neural activity recording, computational methods and molecular circuit dissection tools, we will characterize how the VGAT cells encode food sources and food-seeking behaviors by in vivo calcium imaging miniscope. Taken together, the execution of the project will establish the function of a novel bottom-up pathway vital for food-seeking actions, having direct implications for understanding feeding mechanisms.