The tectonigral pathway regulates appetitive locomotion in predatory hunting in mice

Meizhu Huang, Dapeng Li (), Xinyu Cheng, Qing Pei, Zhiyong Xie, Huating Gu, Xuerong Zhang, Zijun Chen, Aixue Liu, Yi Wang, Fangmiao Sun, Yulong Li, Jiayi Zhang, Miao He, Yuan Xie, Fan Zhang, Xiangbing Qi, Congping Shang () and Peng Cao ()
Additional contact information
Meizhu Huang: Bioland Laboratory (Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory)
Dapeng Li: Capital Medical University
Xinyu Cheng: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Qing Pei: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Zhiyong Xie: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Huating Gu: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Xuerong Zhang: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Zijun Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Aixue Liu: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Yi Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fangmiao Sun: Peking University
Yulong Li: Peking University
Jiayi Zhang: Fudan University
Miao He: Fudan University
Yuan Xie: Hebei Medical University
Fan Zhang: Hebei Medical University
Xiangbing Qi: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Congping Shang: Bioland Laboratory (Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory)
Peng Cao: National Institute of Biological Sciences

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Appetitive locomotion is essential for animals to approach rewards, such as food and prey. The neuronal circuitry controlling appetitive locomotion is unclear. In a goal-directed behavior—predatory hunting, we show an excitatory brain circuit from the superior colliculus (SC) to the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) to enhance appetitive locomotion in mice. This tectonigral pathway transmits locomotion-speed signals to dopamine neurons and triggers dopamine release in the dorsal striatum. Synaptic inactivation of this pathway impairs appetitive locomotion but not defensive locomotion. Conversely, activation of this pathway increases the speed and frequency of approach during predatory hunting, an effect that depends on the activities of SNc dopamine neurons. Together, these data reveal that the SC regulates locomotion-speed signals to SNc dopamine neurons to enhance appetitive locomotion in mice.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24696-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-24696-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24696-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().