Journal
PHARMACOLOGY BIOCHEMISTRY AND BEHAVIOR
Volume 71, Issue 3, Pages 481-491Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0091-3057(01)00685-2
Keywords
defensive behavior; hypothalamus; septal area; amygdala; periaqueductal gray; anterior hypothalamic nucleus; ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus; dorsal premammillary nucleus; dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus
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The hypothalamus is a relatively small division of the vertebrate forebrain that plays especially important roles in neural mechanisms assuring homeostasis, defense, and reproduction. Previous studies from our laboratory have suggested a distinct circuit in the medial hypothalamic zone as critically involved in the organization of innate defensive behavior. Thus, after exposure to a natural predator known to elicit innate defensive responses, increased Fos levels in the medial zone of the hypothalamus have been found restricted to the anterior hypothalamic nucleus, dorsomedial part of the ventromedial nucleus, and dorsal premammillary nucleus (PMd). Previous anatomical studies have shown that these Fos-responsive cell groups in the medial hypothalamus are interconnected in a distinct neural system, in which the PMd appears to be a critical element for the expression of defensive responses elicited by the presence of a predator. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of what is currently known about the functional and hodological organization of this hypothalamic circuit subserving defensive responses. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
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