Defensive behaviors and brain regional activation changes in rats confronting a snake

Autor(es)

Mendes-Gomes, Joyce ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Motta, Simone Cristina ^[4] ; Bindi, Ricardo Passoni ^[4] ; de Oliveira, Amanda Ribeiro ^[4] ; Ullah, Farhad ^[5] ; Baldo, Marcus Vinicius C. ^[6] ; Coimbra, Norberto Cysne ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Canteras, Newton Sabino ^[4] ; Blanchard, D. Caroline ^{[7, 4]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, Dept Pharmacol, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo FMRP USP, Ribeirao Preto Sch Med, Ophidiarium LNN FMRP USP INeC, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo FMRP USP, NAP USP Neurobiol Emot Res Ctr NuPNE, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Anat, Av Lineu Presses 2415, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[5] Islamia Coll Univ, Dept Zool, Grand Trunk Rd, Peshawar 25120 - Pakistan

^[6] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Physiol & Biophys, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[7] Univ Hawaii Manoa, Pacific Biosci Res Ctr, Honolulu, HI 96822 - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Behavioural Brain Research; v. 381, MAR 2 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

In the present study, we examined behavioral and brain regional activation changes of rats). To a non-mammalian predator, a wild rattler snake (Crotalus durissus terrificus). Accordingly, during snake threat, rat subjects showed a striking and highly significant behavioral response of freezing, stretch attend, and, especially, spatial avoidance of this threat. The brain regional activation patterns for these rats were in broad outline similar to those of rats encountering other predator threats, showing Fos activation of sites in the amygdala, hypothalamus, and periaqueductal gray matter. In the amygdala, only the lateral nucleus showed significant activation, although the medial nucleus, highly responsive to olfaction, also showed higher activation. Importantly, the hypothalamus, in particular, was somewhat different, with significant Fos increases in the anterior and central parts of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), in contrast to patterns of enhanced Fos expression in the dorsomedial VMH to cat predators, and in the ventrolateral VMH to an attacking conspecific. In addition, the juxtodorsalmedial region of the lateral hypothalamus showed enhanced Fos activation, where inputs from the septo-hippocampal system may suggest the potential involvement of hippocampal boundary cells in the very strong spatial avoidance of the snake and the area it occupied. Notably, these two hypothalamic paths appear to merge into the dorsomedial part of the dorsal premammillary nucleus and dorsomedial and lateral parts of the periaqueductal gray, all of which present significant increases in Fos expression and are likely to be critical for the expression of defensive behaviors in responses to the snake threat. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/11855-8 - Estudo da influência de endocanabinoides do corpo estriado e do mesencéfalo ventral na atividade das projeções GABAérgicas neoestriado-nigro-tectais durante as reações de pânico de roedores ameaçados por serpentes peçonhentas
• Beneficiário: Norberto Cysne Coimbra
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 14/05432-9 - Bases neurais do medo e agressão
• Beneficiário: Newton Sabino Canteras
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 13/13398-2 - Investigação da Comorbidade entre Dor Neuropática Crônica e Estresse Pós-Traumático: Papel dos Sistemas Glutamatérgico, Canabinoide e Vaniloide Envolvendo o Córtex Pré-Límbico e a Substância Cinzenta Periaquedutal
• Beneficiário: Joyce Mendes Gomes Tessari
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 18/00576-3 - Exploração da atividade neuronal nas diferentes colunas funcionais da matéria cinzenta periaquedutal em resposta à exposição predatória e ao contexto predatório
• Beneficiário: Ricardo Passoni Bindi
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado