ArticleNature communications2018
Inhibitory gain modulation of defense behaviors by zona incerta.
Article in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- PAG-dependent defensive strategy selection: From stress-induced rigidity to adaptive flexibility.iScience · 2026Article
- A Molecularly Defined Midbrain Circuit Mechanism for Sound-Driven Defensive Behavior and Anxiety.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Dual regulatory mechanisms of the ZI-LHb circuit in SPS&S model mice: dissociable control of aversion and anxiety through distinct downstream targets.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Dopamine dynamics as a regulatory mechanism for shifting between defensive and reward-seeking behaviors.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Parallel anterior cingulate cortex pathways underlie dissociable social and attentional outputs.Science advances · 2026Article
- Mapping the topographic organization of the human zona incerta using diffusion MRI.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Somatostatin-expressing neurons in the zona incerta regulate chronic stress response and modulate depression-like behaviors.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- A corticostriatal circuit mediates the switching of defensive responses to an approaching threat.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Demonstrating the ability of GABAergic cells in the zona incerta to modulate motivation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Multimodal analysis reveals cellular diversity and divergent circuits of the zona incerta.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Molecularly distinct subtypes ofiScience · 2026Article
- Divergent BLA engram circuits orchestrate social preference dynamics in bystander male mice with self-experienced stress.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- An intralayer microcircuit in the temporal association cortex underlies sensory-induced escape in mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Delta Opioid Receptors within the Cortico-Thalamic Circuitry Underlie Hyperactivity Induced by High-Dose Morphine.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Prefrontal long-range somatostatin inhibitory projections modulate fear expression.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Ensembles and engrams in mouse cortical and sub-thalamic brain regions supporting context and memory recall.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2026Article
- Direction-selective laterodorsal thalamic nucleus encodes optic flow and turning in spatial navigation.Neuron · 2025Article
- Experience-dependent maternal defense behavior mediated by profrontal cortical projections to the medial preoptic area in mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Decoding gene networks controlling hypothalamic and prethalamic neuron development.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Abnormal iron metabolism in the zona incerta in Parkinson's disease mice.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Zona incerta (ZI) is a functionally mysterious subthalamic nucleus containing mostly inhibitory neurons. Here, we discover that GABAergic neurons in the rostral sector of ZI (ZIr) directly innervate excitatory but not inhibitory neurons in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral compartments of periaqueductal gray (PAG), which can drive flight and freezing behaviors respectively. Optogenetic activation of ZIr neurons or their projections to PAG reduces both sound-induced innate flight response and conditioned freezing response, while optogenetic suppression of these neurons enhances these defensive behaviors, likely through a mechanism of gain modulation. ZIr activity progressively increases during extinction of conditioned freezing response, and suppressing ZIr activity impairs the expression of fear extinction. Furthermore, ZIr is innervated by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and silencing mPFC prevents the increase of ZIr activity during extinction and the expression of fear extinction. Together, our results suggest that ZIr is engaged in modulating defense behaviors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.