Neural basis of active avoidance behavior

描述（由申请人提供）：关于巴甫洛夫恐惧条件反射的神经基质已经取得了巨大的进展。在这种范式中，最初中性的感觉刺激与厌恶事件（电击脚）之间的关联导致中性刺激转化为条件刺激（CS），其以不动、增强惊吓、心率变化等形式激发恐惧反应，这些反应不是由中性感觉刺激引起的。充分的证据表明，CS必须通过特定于模态的感觉丘脑传输到杏仁核的情绪处理中心，在那里发生与厌恶刺激的关联，并输出驱动条件反应。相比之下，人们对主动回避行为中涉及的神经回路知之甚少。在这个范例中，受试者学习通过在CS的呈现所发出的间隔期间产生适当的行为反应（回避）来避免厌恶事件。理解主动回避行为很重要，因为它存在于大多数形式的病理性焦虑中。最近，使用大鼠，我们发现，病变的感觉丘脑，取消巴甫洛夫恐惧条件反射的模态相关的CS不取消主动回避相同的CS。在这些动物中，上级丘处理CS并介导主动回避。我们的一般假设是，上级丘作为一个早期中继站，快速检测的感觉信号是行为上的重要性，需要立即采取行动;早期感觉运动枢纽非常适合调解主动回避。以这项工作为背景，我们已经开发了一个假设模型的神经回路参与的性能（表达）的主动回避行为。在这里，我们建议测试这个模型的两个关键方面。第一个目标是确定介导主动回避的输出通路。第二个目标是确定基底神经节在门控主动回避反应中的作用。我们将采用行为学、电生理学、药理学和组织学程序的组合来实现这些目标。本研究项目的长期目标是揭示主动回避行为的神经基础，这与许多精神疾病直接相关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Enormous progress has been made about the neural substrates of Pavlovian fear conditioning. In this paradigm, the association between an initially neutral sensory stimulus with an aversive event (footshock) leads to the transformation of the neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits fear responses in the form of immobility, potentiated startle, changes in heart rate, etc, which were not evoked by the neutral sensory stimulus. Ample evidence indicates that the CS must be transmitted through the modality-specific sensory thalamus to reach emotional processing centers in the amygdala, where the association with the aversive stimulus occurs and an output drives the conditioned responses. In contrast, little is known about the neural circuits involved in active avoidance behavior. In this paradigm, subjects learn to avoid an aversive event by producing an appropriate behavioral response (avoidance) during an interval signaled by the presentation of a CS. Understanding active avoidance behavior is important because it is present in most forms of pathological anxiety. Recently, using rats we found that lesions of the sensory thalamus that abolish Pavlovian fear conditioning to the modality-related CS do not abolish active avoidance to the same CS. In these animals, the superior colliculus processes the CS and mediates active avoidance. Our general hypothesis is that the superior colliculus serves as an early relay station for rapid detection of sensory signals that are behaviorally significant and require immediate action; an early sensorimotor hub well suited to mediate active avoidance. With this work as a backdrop, we have developed a hypothetical model of the neural circuits involved in the performance (expression) of active avoidance behavior. Here we propose to test two key aspects of this model. The first goal is to determine the output pathways that mediate active avoidance. The second goal is to determine the role of basal ganglia in gating active avoidance responses. We will employ a combination of behavioral, electrophysiological, pharmacological and histological procedures to reach these goals. The long term objective of this research project is to reveal the neural substrates of active avoidance behavior, which has direct relevance to many psychiatric disorders.