Nested circuits mediate the decision to vocalize

Vocalizations facilitate mating and social affiliation but may also inadvertently alert predators and rivals. Consequently, the decision to vocalize depends on brain circuits that can weigh and compare these potential benefits and risks. Male mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during courtship to facilitate mating, and previously isolated female mice produce USVs during social encounters with novel females. Earlier we showed that a specialized set of neurons in the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG-USV neurons) are an obligatory gate for USV production in both male and female mice, and that both PAG-USV neurons and USVs can be switched on by their inputs from the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus and switched off by their inputs from neurons on the border between the central and medial amygdala (Amg(C/M-PAG) neurons) (Michael et al., 2020). Here, we show that the USV-suppressing Amg(C/M-PAG) neurons are strongly activated by predator cues or during social contexts that suppress USV production in male and female mice. Further, we explored how vocal promoting and vocal suppressing drives are weighed in the brain to influence vocal production in male mice, where the drive and courtship function for USVs are better understood. We found that Amg(C/M-PAG) neurons receive monosynaptic inhibitory input from POA neurons that also project to the PAG, that these inhibitory inputs are active in USV-promoting social contexts, and that optogenetic activation of POA cell bodies that make divergent axonal projections to the amygdala and PAG is sufficient to elicit USV production in socially isolated male mice. Accordingly, Amg(C/M-PAG) neurons, along with POA(PAG) and PAG-USV neurons, form a nested hierarchical circuit in which environmental and social information converges to influence the decision to vocalize.

Automated summary

This study reveals that neurons suppressing vocalizations are activated by predator cues or inhibitory social contexts in mice. It also uncovers how the brain weighs factors promoting and suppressing vocal production, and how the activation of specific neurons influences the decision to vocalize in mice.