Neuronal Representation of Social Information in the Medial Amygdala of Awake Behaving Mice.

The medial amygdala (MeA) plays a critical role in processing species- and sex-specific signals that trigger social and defensive behaviors. However, the principles by which this deep brain structure encodes social information is poorly understood. We used a miniature microscope to image the Ca2+ dynamics of large neural ensembles in awake behaving mice and tracked the responses of MeA neurons over several months. These recordings revealed spatially intermingled subsets of MeA neurons with distinct temporal dynamics. The encoding of social information in the MeA differed between males and females and relied on information from both individual cells and neuronal populations. By performing long-term Ca2+ imaging across different social contexts, we found that sexual experience triggers lasting and sex-specific changes in MeA activity, which, in males, involve signaling by oxytocin. These findings reveal basic principles underlying the brain's representation of social information and its modulation by intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

A preoptic neuronal population controls fever and appetite during sickness.

During infection, animals exhibit adaptive changes in physiology and behaviour aimed at increasing survival. Although many causes of infection exist, they trigger similar stereotyped symptoms such as fever, warmth-seeking, loss of appetite and fatigue1,2. Yet exactly how the nervous system alters body temperature and triggers sickness behaviours to coordinate responses to infection remains unknown. Here we identify a previously uncharacterized population of neurons in the ventral medial preoptic area (VMPO) of the hypothalamus that are activated after sickness induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid. These neurons are crucial for generating a fever response and other sickness symptoms such as warmth-seeking and loss of appetite. Single-nucleus RNA-sequencing and multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization uncovered the identity and distribution of LPS-activated VMPO (VMPOLPS) neurons and non-neuronal cells. Gene expression and electrophysiological measurements implicate a paracrine mechanism in which the release of immune signals by non-neuronal cells during infection activates nearby VMPOLPS neurons. Finally, we show that VMPOLPS neurons exert a broad influence on the activity of brain areas associated with behavioural and homeostatic functions and are synaptically and functionally connected to circuit nodes controlling body temperature and appetite. Together, these results uncover VMPOLPS neurons as a control hub that integrates immune signals to orchestrate multiple sickness symptoms in response to infection.

Functional genomics identifies neural stem cell sub-type expression profiles and genes regulating neuroblast homeostasis.

The Drosophila larval central brain contains about 10,000 differentiated neurons and 200 scattered neural progenitors (neuroblasts), which can be further subdivided into ~95 type I neuroblasts and eight type II neuroblasts per brain lobe. Only type II neuroblasts generate self-renewing intermediate neural progenitors (INPs), and consequently each contributes more neurons to the brain, including much of the central complex. We characterized six different mutant genotypes that lead to expansion of neuroblast numbers; some preferentially expand type II or type I neuroblasts. Transcriptional profiling of larval brains from these mutant genotypes versus wild-type allowed us to identify small clusters of transcripts enriched in type II or type I neuroblasts, and we validated these clusters by gene expression analysis. Unexpectedly, only a few genes were found to be differentially expressed between type I/II neuroblasts, suggesting that these genes play a large role in establishing the different cell types. We also identified a large group of genes predicted to be expressed in all neuroblasts but not in neurons. We performed a neuroblast-specific, RNAi-based functional screen and identified 84 genes that are required to maintain proper neuroblast numbers; all have conserved mammalian orthologs. These genes are excellent candidates for regulating neural progenitor self-renewal in Drosophila and mammals.

Contactin-4 mediates axon-target specificity and functional development of the accessory optic system.

The mammalian eye-to-brain pathway includes more than 20 parallel circuits, each consisting of precise long-range connections between specific sets of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and target structures in the brain. The mechanisms that drive assembly of these parallel connections and the functional implications of their specificity remain unresolved. Here we show that in the absence of contactin 4 (CNTN4) or one of its binding partners, amyloid precursor protein (APP), a subset of direction-selective RGCs fail to target the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT)--the accessory optic system (AOS) target controlling horizontal image stabilization. Conversely, ectopic expression of CNTN4 biases RGCs to arborize in the NOT, and that process also requires APP. Our data reveal critical and novel roles for CNTN4/APP in promoting target-specific axon arborization, and they highlight the importance of this process for functional development of a behaviorally relevant parallel visual pathway.

Birthdate and outgrowth timing predict cellular mechanisms of axon target matching in the developing visual pathway.

How axons select their appropriate targets in the brain remains poorly understood. Here, we explore the cellular mechanisms of axon target matching in the developing visual system by comparing four transgenic mouse lines, each with a different population of genetically labeled retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that connect to unique combinations of brain targets. We find that the time when an RGC axon arrives in the brain is correlated with its target selection strategy. Early-born, early-arriving RGC axons initially innervate multiple targets. Subsequently, most of those connections are removed. By contrast, later-born, later-arriving RGC axons are highly accurate in their initial target choices. These data reveal the diversity of cellular mechanisms that mammalian CNS axons use to pick their targets and highlight the key role of birthdate and outgrowth timing in influencing this precision. Timing-based mechanisms may underlie the assembly of the other sensory pathways and complex neural circuitry in the brain.

Cadherin-6 mediates axon-target matching in a non-image-forming visual circuit.

Neural circuits consist of highly precise connections among specific types of neurons that serve a common functional goal. How neurons distinguish among different synaptic targets to form functionally precise circuits remains largely unknown. Here, we show that during development, the adhesion molecule cadherin-6 (Cdh6) is expressed by a subset of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and also by their targets in the brain. All of the Cdh6-expressing retinorecipient nuclei mediate non-image-forming visual functions. A screen of mice expressing GFP in specific subsets of RGCs revealed that Cdh3-RGCs which also express Cdh6 selectively innervate Cdh6-expressing retinorecipient targets. Moreover, in Cdh6-deficient mice, the axons of Cdh3-RGCs fail to properly innervate their targets and instead project to other visual nuclei. These findings provide functional evidence that classical cadherins promote mammalian CNS circuit development by ensuring that axons of specific cell types connect to their appropriate synaptic targets.