Whole-brain connectivity atlas of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the mouse dorsal and median raphe nuclei

Abstract

The dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) and median raphe nucleus (MR) contain populations of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons that regulate diverse behavioral functions. However, their whole-brain input-output circuits remain incompletely elucidated. We used viral tracing combined with fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography to generate a comprehensive whole-brain atlas of inputs and outputs of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the DR and MR. We found that these neurons received inputs from similar upstream brain regions. The glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the same raphe nucleus had divergent projection patterns with differences in critical brain regions. Specifically, MR glutamatergic neurons projected to the lateral habenula through multiple pathways. Correlation and cluster analysis revealed that glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the same raphe nucleus received heterogeneous inputs and sent different collateral projections. This connectivity atlas further elucidates the anatomical architecture of the raphe nuclei, which could facilitate better understanding of their behavioral functions.