Distinct Neuronal Projections from the Hypothalamic Ventromedial Nucleus Mediate Glycemic and Behavioral Effects

Author Type(s)

Student

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

December 2018

Journal Title

Diabetes

Abstract

The hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus (VMN) is implicated both in autonomic control of blood glucose and in behaviors including fear and aggression, but whether these divergent effects involve the same or distinct neuronal subsets and their projections is unknown. To address this question, we used an optogenetic approach to selectively activate the subset of VMN neurons that express neuronal nitric oxide synthase 1 (VMN(NOS1) neurons) implicated in glucose counterregulation. We found that photo-activation of these neurons elicits 1) robust hyperglycemia achieved by activation of counterregulatory responses (CRRs) usually reserved for the physiological response to hypoglycemia, and 2) defensive immobility behavior. Moreover, we show that the glucagon, but not corticosterone, response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia is blunted by photo-inhibition of the same neurons. To investigate the neurocircuitry by which VMN(NOS1) neurons mediate these effects, and to determine whether these diverse effects are dissociable from one another, we activated downstream VMN(NOS1) projections in either the anterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (aBNST) or the periaqueductal gray (PAG). While glycemic responses are fully recapitulated by activation of VMN(NOS1) projections to the aBNST, freezing immobility occurred only upon activation of VMN(NOS1) terminals in the PAG. These findings support previous evidence of a VMN-->aBNST neurocircuit involved in glucose counterregulation and demonstrate that activation of VMN(NOS1) neuronal projections supplying the PAG robustly elicits defensive behaviors.

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