Abstract
The needs of the body can direct behavioral and neural processing toward motivationally relevant sensory cues. For example, human imaging studies have consistently found specific cortical areas with biased responses to food-associated visual cues in hungry subjects, but not in sated subjects. To obtain a cellular-level understanding of these hunger-dependent cortical response biases, we performed chronic two-photon calcium imaging in postrhinal association cortex (POR) and primary visual cortex (V1) of behaving mice. As in humans, neurons in mouse POR, but not V1, exhibited biases toward food-associated cues that were abolished by satiety. This emergent bias was mirrored by the innervation pattern of amygdalo-cortical feedback axons. Strikingly, these axons exhibited even stronger food cue biases and sensitivity to hunger state and trial history. These findings highlight a direct pathway by which the lateral amygdala may contribute to state-dependent cortical processing of motivationally relevant sensory cues.
🔬 Techniques
✨ Fluorophores
🧪 Sample Preparation
🏛️ Research Organizations (ROR)
Affiliated research institutions:
📋 Methods
All animal care and experimental procedures were approved by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Animals were housed with standard mouse chow and water provided ad libitum , unless specified otherwise. Mice used for in vivo two-photon imaging (n=15 male C57BL/6 mice, n=4 male EMX-cre mice, age at surgery: 9–15 weeks) were instrumented with a headpost and a 3 mm cranial window, centered over either primary visual cortex or lateral cortex including postrhinal cortex. For additional details, see Supplemental Experimental Procedures .
Supplementary Material 1 2 3
📊 Figures
Figure 1
In vivo two-photon imaging of head-fixed mice during a Go/NoGo visual discrimination task
A. Schematic of a V1 - POR - LA circuit. B. Schematic of setup for in vivo two-photon imaging in a mousenperforming a Go/NoGo visual discrimination task. Licking is tracked via an IRnbeam positioned i...
Figure 2
POR, but not V1, demonstrates a response bias to food-associated cues in food-restricted mice
A. Example two-photon image of GCaMP6f expression in POR. Depth: 130nu03bcm. B. u0394F/F traces from example neurons circled in A. A 50% change innfluorescence (0.5 u0394F/F) is denoted via each black...
Figure 3
Reciprocal excitatory connectivity between POR and LA
A. Anterograde viral tracing, using cre-dependent AAV-synaptophysin-GFP,ndemonstrated dense input from LA to POR. B. In vitro ChR2-assisted circuit mapping (CRACM) demonstrated anstrong, functional ex...
Figure 4
LA feedback axons in POR demonstrate a strong response bias to food-associated cues in food-restricted mice
A. Schematic demonstrating in vivo two-photon calcium imaging ofnLA axons in POR (LA u2192POR ). B. Example two-photon image in POR, with a subset of LA u2192POR axons outlined in red. C. u0394F/F tra...
Figure 5
Food cue responses in POR and LA are modulated by hunger state
A. After food-restricted (FR) mice performed ~400 trials of the Go/NoGo visualndiscrimination task, they were given free access to Ensure (while stillnhead-fixed). Once mice were sated, they received ...
Figure 6
Differential decoding of hunger state vs. cue identity from single-trial ensemble activity across areas
Au2013C. Using single-trial FC responses in simultaneously-recordednpopulations of neurons, we could correctly predict hunger state with greaternthan chance (50%) accuracy using a simple linear classi...
Figure 7
Trial history strongly modulates food cue responses in POR and LA
A. Fano factor, a measure of trial-to-trial variability, increased from V1 to PORnto LA u2192POR . Insets show single-trial food cue responsentimecourses from an example POR neuron ( left ) andnLA u21...
Figure 8
LA u2192POR axons respond to reward in addition to visual cues
Au2013B. An example LA u2192POR axon that responds post-Ensurendelivery, but not to presentation of the FC (A), and an example POR neuron thatnresponds post-licking, but not to presentation of the FC ...
Figure images are served from the NIH/NLM PubMed Central Open Access Subset or Europe PMC; copyright remains with the publishers and authors.
💬 Discussion
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