Processing of visually evoked innate fear by a non-canonical thalamic pathway
Authors: Xuanyi Zhou
Fuqiang Xu
Zheng Zhou
Lin Xu
Xintian Hu
Yi Zhang
Guoqiang Bi
Juan Li
Liping Wang
Lin Chen
Xuemei Liu
Bifeng Wu
Nan Liu
Yaohan Liu
Xiaobin He
Yongqiang Tang
Pengfei Wei
Zhijian Zhang
Journal: Nature Communications (2015)
Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Keywords: animals; life-threatening stimuli; vision; sensory inputs; defensive responses
Affiliations: Shenzhen Key Lab of Neuropsychiatric Modulation and Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China., 1] Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China [2] College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430071, China., Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China., College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China., Institute of Zoology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China., State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China., CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, and School of Life Sciences, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, The University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.

Abstract:  The ability of animals to respond to life-threatening stimuli is essential for survival. Although vision provides one of the major sensory inputs for detecting threats across animal species, the circuitry underlying defensive responses to visual stimuli remains poorly defined. Here, we investigate the circuitry underlying innate defensive behaviours elicited by predator-like visual stimuli in mice. Our results demonstrate that neurons in the superior colliculus (SC) are essential for a variety of acute and persistent defensive responses to overhead looming stimuli. Optogenetic mapping revealed that SC projections to the lateral posterior nucleus (LP) of the thalamus, a non-canonical polymodal sensory relay, are sufficient to mimic visually evoked fear responses. In vivo electrophysiology experiments identified a di-synaptic circuit from SC through LP to the lateral amygdale (Amg), and lesions of the Amg blocked the full range of visually evoked defensive responses. Our results reveal a novel collicular-thalamic-Amg circuit important for innate defensive responses to visual threats. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 1.The authors mention in the abstract that .....lesions of the Amg blocked the full range of visually evoked defensive responses. Yet, this experiment does NOT exist in the main text nor in the supplementary figuers. 2.In the supplememtary videos of the optical inhibition, the control mice were not tethered with a laser patch cord, which is a completely different setting compared to the test group. , 
 Thanks for the comment Coniothyrina. I also noticed the same mention of the amygdala lesion, importantly the paper does not contain any experiments that involve amygdala-lesion and looming stimulus behavioral testing, as claimed in the abstract that the it blocked visually evoked . Indeed, the plugging of the laser patch cord has an important effect and control mice being untethered should not be comapred to test group, especially in sensitive visual task. I think that the authors should address the concerns raised. ,