Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; DANDRITE, The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Proteins in Memory – PROMEMO, Danish National Research Foundation, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; DANDRITE, The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Proteins in Memory – PROMEMO, Danish National Research Foundation, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Noëmie Mermet-Joret
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; DANDRITE, The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Proteins in Memory – PROMEMO, Danish National Research Foundation, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
DANDRITE, The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Keisuke Yonehara
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Multiscale Sensory Structure Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan; Department of Genetics, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Mishima, Japan
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; DANDRITE, The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Proteins in Memory – PROMEMO, Danish National Research Foundation, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Behavioral flexibility and timely reactions to salient stimuli are essential for survival. The subcortical thalamic-basolateral amygdala (BLA) pathway serves as a shortcut for salient stimuli ensuring rapid processing. Here, we show that BLA neuronal and thalamic axonal activity in mice mirror the defensive behavior evoked by an innate visual threat as well as an auditory learned threat. Importantly, perturbing this pathway compromises defensive responses to both forms of threats, in that animals fail to switch from exploratory to defensive behavior. Despite the shared pathway between the two forms of threat processing, we observed noticeable differences. Blocking β-adrenergic receptors impairs the defensive response to the innate but not the learned threats. This reduced defensive response, surprisingly, is reflected in the suppression of the activity exclusively in the BLA as the thalamic input response remains intact. Our side-by-side examination highlights the similarities and differences between innate and learned threat-processing, thus providing new fundamental insights.
