| Title | Organization of Functional Long-Range Circuits Controlling the Activity of Serotonergic Neurons in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus |
| Author | Li Zhou1, 2, Ming-Zhe Liu1, 2, Qing Li1, Juan Deng1, 2, Di Mu1, 2, Yan-Gang Sun1, |
| Affiliation(s) | 1 Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
2 Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China |
| Published | Cell Reports, Volume 18, Issue 12, 21 March 2017, Pages 3018–3032 Volume 18, Issue 12, 21 March 2017, Pages 3018–3032 |
| Keyword | UHP-Mic-LED-475 |
| Snippet | ...Blue light-emitting diode (LED) (475 nm; 11 mW/mm2; UHP-Mic-LED-475; Prizmatix) coupled to a water objective (60×; numerical aperture [NA] 1.0) was used to activate ChR2+ cells or fibers. |
| Abstract | Serotonergic neurons play key roles in various biological processes. However, circuit mechanisms underlying tight control of serotonergic neurons remain largely unknown. Here, we systematically investigated the organization of long-range synaptic inputs to serotonergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) of mice with a combination of viral tracing, slice electrophysiological, and optogenetic techniques. We found that DRN serotonergic neurons and GABAergic neurons receive largely comparable synaptic inputs from six major upstream brain areas. Upon further analysis of the fine functional circuit structures, we found both bilateral and ipsilateral patterns of topographic connectivity in the DRN for the axons from different inputs. Moreover, the upstream brain areas were found to bidirectionally control the activity of DRN serotonergic neurons by recruiting feedforward inhibition or via a push-pull mechanism. Our study provides a framework for further deciphering the functional roles of long-range circuits controlling the activity of serotonergic neurons in the DRN. |
