Open AccessBrain-wide Mapping of Mono-synaptic Afferents to Different Cell Types in the Laterodorsal Tegmentum
Author(s) -
Xiaomeng Wang,
Hongbin Yang,
Libiao Pan,
Shuai Hao,
Xiaotong Wu,
Li Zhan,
Yi-Jun Liu,
Fan Meng,
Huifang Lou,
Ying Shen,
Shumin Duan,
Hao Wang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
neuroscience bulletin/neuroscience bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1673-7067
pISSN - 1995-8218
DOI - 10.1007/s12264-019-00397-2
Subject(s) - neuroscience , superior colliculus , tegmentum , biology , periaqueductal gray , anterograde tracing , thalamus , ventral tegmental area , gabaergic , midbrain , nucleus accumbens , ventral pallidum , anatomy , globus pallidus , central nervous system , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , basal ganglia , dopaminergic , dopamine
The laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT) is a brain structure involved in distinct behaviors including arousal, reward, and innate fear. How environmental stimuli and top-down control from high-order sensory and limbic cortical areas converge and coordinate in this region to modulate diverse behavioral outputs remains unclear. Using a modified rabies virus, we applied monosynaptic retrograde tracing to the whole brain to examine the LDT cell type specific upstream nuclei. The LDT received very strong midbrain and hindbrain afferents and moderate cortical and hypothalamic innervation but weak connections to the thalamus. The main projection neurons from cortical areas were restricted to the limbic lobe, including the ventral orbital cortex (VO), prelimbic, and cingulate cortices. Although different cell populations received qualitatively similar inputs, primarily via afferents from the periaqueductal gray area, superior colliculus, and the LDT itself, parvalbumin-positive (PV + ) GABAergic cells received preferential projections from local LDT neurons. With regard to the different subtypes of GABAergic cells, a considerable number of nuclei, including those of the ventral tegmental area, central amygdaloid nucleus, and VO, made significantly greater inputs to somatostatin-positive cells than to PV + cells. Diverse inputs to the LDT on a system-wide level were revealed.