ArticlePhysiological reports2016
Role played by periaqueductal gray neurons in parasympathetically mediated fear bradycardia in conscious rats.
Article in Physiological reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Subcortical modulation of the salience network during negative emotional processing in mood and anxiety disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- The dopaminergic system mediates the lateral habenula-induced autonomic cardiovascular responses.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- Whole-brain monosynaptic inputs to lateral periaqueductal gray glutamatergic neurons in mice.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2023Article
- Threat gates visual aversion via theta activity in Tachykinergic neurons.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Review
- Machine learning-based clustering and classification of mouse behaviors via respiratory patterns.iScience · 2022Article
- Freezing revisited: coordinated autonomic and central optimization of threat coping.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2022Review
- Postural freezing relates to startle potentiation in a human fear-conditioning paradigm.Psychophysiology · 2022Article
- Threat induces cardiac and metabolic changes that negatively impact survival in flies.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Increased Vocalization of Rats in Response to Ultrasonic Playback as a Sign of Hypervigilance Following Fear Conditioning.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Approach-Avoidance Decisions Under Threat: The Role of Autonomic Psychophysiological States.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Article
- Playback of Alarm and Appetitive Calls Differentially Impacts Vocal, Heart-Rate, and Motor Response in Rats.iScience · 2020Article
- The association between serotonin transporter availability and the neural correlates of fear bradycardia.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Augmented fear bradycardia in rats with heart failure.The journal of physiological sciences : JPS · 2019Article
- Visuocortical changes during a freezing-like state in humans.NeuroImage · 2018Article
- Role played by periaqueductal gray neurons in parasympathetically mediated fear bradycardia in conscious rats.Physiological reports · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Freezing, a characteristic pattern of defensive behavior elicited by fear, is associated with a decrease in the heart rate. Central mechanisms underlying fear bradycardia are poorly understood. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) in the midbrain is known to contribute to autonomic cardiovascular adjustments associated with various emotional behaviors observed during active or passive defense reactions. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role played by PAG neurons in eliciting fear bradycardia. White noise sound (WNS) exposure at 90 dB induced freezing behavior and elicited bradycardia in conscious rats. The WNS exposure-elicited bradycardia was mediated parasympathetically because intravenous administration of atropine abolished the bradycardia (P < 0.05). Moreover, WNS exposure-elicited bradycardia was mediated by neuronal activation of the lateral/ventrolateral PAG (l/vlPAG) because bilateral microinjection of muscimol, a GABAA agonist, into the l/vlPAG significantly suppressed the bradycardia. It is noted that muscimol microinjected bilaterally into the dorsolateral PAG had no effect on WNS exposure-elicited bradycardia. Furthermore, retrograde neuronal tracing experiments combined with immunohistochemistry demonstrated that a number of l/vlPAG neurons that send direct projections to the nucleus ambiguus (NA) in the medulla, a major origin of parasympathetic preganglionic neurons to the heart, were activated by WNS exposure. Based on these findings, we propose that the l/vlPAG-NA monosynaptic pathway transmits fear-driven central signals, which elicit bradycardia through parasympathetic outflow.
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