ArticleNeuron2023
Distinct circuits in anterior cingulate cortex encode safety assessment and mediate flexibility of fear reactions.
Article in Neuron, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stress, needs, and behaviour: understanding chronic stress in pet domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) from the prism of needs.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- A Molecularly Defined Midbrain Circuit Mechanism for Sound-Driven Defensive Behavior and Anxiety.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Age-related differences in hippocampal network engagement during safety processing in adolescents.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Anterior cingulate cortex monitors action state and action content in complex associative learning.eLife · 2026Article
- Midazolam Exerts Sedative Effects by Differentially Modulating Cortical Pyramidal Neurons and PV Interneurons.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Somatostatin-expressing neurons in the zona incerta regulate chronic stress response and modulate depression-like behaviors.Molecular psychiatry · 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
- An intralayer microcircuit in the temporal association cortex underlies sensory-induced escape in mice.Nature communications · 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
- Delta Opioid Receptors within the Cortico-Thalamic Circuitry Underlie Hyperactivity Induced by High-Dose Morphine.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Prefrontal cortex-to-hypothalamic outputs orchestrate cue-potentiated palatable food consumption via AMPKβ2 signaling.Cell discovery · 2026Article
- Distinct CaMKII neurons in anterior cingulate cortex regulate anxiety-like behavior and appetite suppression in a model of inflammatory pain.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- The double-edged sword effect of adverse childhood experiences forging adult stress into depression and anxiety.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Direction-selective laterodorsal thalamic nucleus encodes optic flow and turning in spatial navigation.Neuron · 2025Article
- Article
- High-dose medetomidine increases functional connectivity in the fear-related regions after electrical stimulation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Astrocytic dopamine D1 receptor modulates glutamatergic transmission and synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex through d-serine.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2025Article
- Prepronociceptin-Expressing Neurons in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis Signal Escape Behavior.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Synchronicity of pyramidal neurones in the neocortex dominates isoflurane-induced burst suppression in mice.British journal of anaesthesia · 2025Article
- A distributed subcortical circuit linked to instrumental information-seeking about threat.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Safety assessment and threat evaluation are crucial for animals to live and survive in the wilderness. However, neural circuits underlying safety assessment and their transformation to mediate flexibility of fear-induced defensive behaviors remain largely unknown. Here, we report that distinct neuronal populations in mouse anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) encode safety status by selectively responding under different contexts of auditory threats, with one preferably activated when an animal staysing in a self-deemed safe zone and another specifically activated in more dangerous environmental settings that led to escape behavior. The safety-responding neurons preferentially target the zona incerta (ZI), which suppresses the superior colliculus (SC) via its GABAergic projection, while the danger-responding neurons preferentially target and excite SC. These distinct corticofugal pathways antagonistically modulate SC responses to threat, resulting in context-dependent expression of fear reactions. Thus, ACC serves as a critical node to encode safety/danger assessment and mediate behavioral flexibility through differential top-down circuits.
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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.