Affiliation:
1. Institute of Basic Medicine and Forensic Medicine North Sichuan Medical College Nanchong China
2. Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology and K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre Air Force Military Medical University Xi'an China
3. Department of Emergency Medicine Inner Mongolia Armed Police Corps Hospital Hohhot China
4. School of International Education and Cooperation North Sichuan Medical College Nanchong China
Abstract
AbstractCorticotropin‐releasing hormone (CRH) neurons are densely distributed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which plays a crucial role in integrating and processing emotional and cognitive inputs from other brain regions. Therefore, it is important to know the neural afferent patterns of mPFCCRH neurons, which are still unclear. Here, we utilized a rabies virus‐based monosynaptic retrograde tracing system to map the presynaptic afferents of the mPFCCRH neurons throughout the entire brain. The results show that the mPFCCRH neurons receive inputs from three main groups of brain regions: (1) the cortex, primarily the orbital cortex, somatomotor areas, and anterior cingulate cortex; (2) the thalamus, primarily the anteromedial nucleus, mediodorsal thalamic nucleus, and central medial thalamic nucleus; and (3) other brain regions, primarily the basolateral amygdala, hippocampus, and dorsal raphe nucleus. Taken together, our results are valuable for further investigations into the roles of the mPFCCRH neurons in normal and neurological disease states. These investigations can shed light on various aspects such as cognitive processing, emotional modulation, motivation, sociability, and pain.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Cell Biology,Developmental Biology,Molecular Biology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Histology,Anatomy