A vagal-brainstem interoceptive circuit for cough-like defensive behaviors in mice
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ABSTRACT: Respiratory defensive behaviors, like coughing, play a crucial role in protecting the respiratory system, ensuring its integrity and optimal function. How these critical behaviors are regulated by sensory stimuli within the body remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) in mice, a key hub in the brain for processing internal sensory signals and mediating interoceptive processes, contains heterogenous neuronal populations that differentially control breathing. Within these subtypes, activation of tachykinin 1 (Tac1) neurons triggers a specific respiratory behavior. Our detailed characterization of respiratory defensive behaviors reveals that these responses are cough-like behaviors. Chemogenetic silencing or genetic ablation of Tac1 neurons significantly reduces cough-like behaviors induced by tussive challenges. These Tac1 neurons receive synaptic inputs from the bronchopulmonary chemosensory and mechanosensory neurons in the vagal ganglion, and directly integrate the medullary regions to control sequential phases of cough-like defensive behaviors. We propose that these Tac1 neurons are a key component of the airway-vagal-brain neural circuit that controls cough-like defensive behaviors in mice, and they coordinate the downstream modular circuits to elicit the sequential motor pattern of forceful expiratory responses.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE268741 | GEO | 2024/06/05
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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