Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

12-18-2024

Journal

Neuron

DOI

10.1016/j.neuron.2024.10.010

PMID

39504962

PMCID

PMC11659027

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-18-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Corticothalamic projections to sensorimotor thalamic nuclei show modest firing rates and serve to modulate the activity of thalamic relay neurons. By contrast, here we find that high-order corticothalamic projections from the prelimbic (PL) cortex to the anterior paraventricular thalamic nucleus (aPVT) maintain high-frequency activity and evoke strong synaptic excitation of aPVT neurons in rats. In a significant fraction of aPVT cells, such high-frequency excitation of PL-aPVT projections leads to a rapid decay of action potential amplitudes, followed by a depolarization block (DB) that strongly limits aPVT maximum firing rates, thereby regulating both defensive and appetitive behaviors in a frequency-dependent manner. Strong inhibitory inputs from the anteroventral portion of the thalamic reticular nucleus (avTRN) inhibit the firing rate of aPVT neurons during periods of high-spike fidelity but restore it during prominent DB, suggesting that avTRN activity can modulate the effects of PL inputs on aPVT firing rates to ultimately control motivated behaviors.

Keywords

Animals, Rats, Neurons, Neural Pathways, Action Potentials, Male, Midline Thalamic Nuclei, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Cerebral Cortex, Thalamus

Published Open-Access

yes

nihms-2033804-f0001.jpg (110 kB)
Graphical Abstract

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