Co-Transmitting Neurons in the Lateral Septal Nucleus Exhibit Features of Neurotransmitter Switching

Authors

Patrick J Hunt
Mikhail Kochukov
Brandon T Pekarek
Benjamin D W Belfort
Juan M Romero
Jessica L Swanson
Benjamin R Arenkiel

Publication Date

6-1-2022

Journal

IBRO Neuroscience Reports

DOI

10.1016/j.ibneur.2022.05.003

PMID

35601692

PMCID

PMC9121281

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

5-12-2022

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

Acetylcholine, Co-transmission, GABA, Lateral Septal Nucleus, Neurotransmitter, Neurotransmitter switching

Abstract

The lateral septal nucleus (LSN) is a highly interconnected region of the central brain whose activity regulates widespread circuitry. As such, the mechanisms that govern neuronal activity within the LSN have far-reaching implications on numerous brain-wide nuclei, circuits, and behaviors. We found that GABAergic neurons within the LSN express markers that mediate the release of acetylcholine (ACh). Moreover, we show that these vGATLSN neurons release both GABA and ACh onto local glutamatergic LSN neurons. Using both short-term and long-term neuronal labeling techniques we observed expression of the cholinergic neuron marker Choline Acetyltransferase (ChAT) in vGATLSN neurons. These findings provide evidence of cholinergic neurotransmission from vGATLSN neurons, and provide an impetus to examine dynamic co-neurotransmission changes as a potential mechanism that contributes to neuronal and circuit-wide plasticity within the LSN.